A small Maryland company's decision this week to stop publishing telecom carrier rates is making a big stir in the industry, as experts say one of the free-market effects of the 1996 Telecommunications Act is finally being felt, nearly a decade after it was passed.

Rockville, Md.-based Center for Communications Management Information this week ceased publishing "DealWatch," a compendium of rates of telecommunications carriers, used by major corporations, and small and medium-size businesses, to shop around for the best-priced telecom deal. By Gene Koprowski

Tail end of the article reads:

>>>The reasoning? The FCC wanted to "deter price coordination among carriers," said Nadler, the telecom attorney, who practices before the commission and the federal courts. "The thinking was that in a competitive market, the burden is on the consumer to find the costs."

So, the UPI writer gives the last word to a corporate lawyer. Typical.

The FCC is supposed to represent the consumer. Here it's siding with the corporations.

When price information is *not* available, companies will have more leeway to collude to set prices, because they can employ discriminatory pricing (which is against the law). Open pricing forces companies to offer the same price to all buyers. This is good, because it eliminates sales agents who figure out ways to raise prices.

Michael Powell's FCC is lame. He's a corporate lapdog.