A bit of good news for consumers – and those at this company and others vying for their business – may have gone unnoticed by some over the long weekend.

Friday evening, the Federal Communications Commission issued a news release with the headline “FCC Replaces Outmoded Long-Distance Rules With New Protections For Consumers.”  Those outmoded rules required companies like Verizon, AT&T and Qwest to offer in-region, long-distance service through a separate subsidiary in order to avoid the various regulations and constraints associated with being branded a “dominant carrier.”

In short, we’ll be able to provide long-distance and other services to consumers under one roof, in some cases using the same Verizon employees and equipment.  This makes sense in the era of convergence, competition and bundling.  In the words of analyst Anna-Maria Kovacs, “This move eliminates various costs for [the companies], gives them more marketing flexibility, and eliminates some awkwardness in their transactions with customers.” 

Another benefit for residential consumers is the agreement by the companies to provide special residential calling plans for up to three years for those few people who make very few long-distance calls, do not have wireless, or do not have access to VOIP calling.

What precipitated this order?  In a word, competition.  As FCC Commissioners Copps and Adelstein said in their joint statement, “We support this relief, with the conditions and commitments included therein, because the Commission must take into account the changing long-distance market.”  In the words of Commissioner McDowell, “This is a classic instance where regulation had been appropriate…but where the relevant market has become sufficiently competitive to warrant less onerous regulations, while continuing to protect consumers.”