TelLAWCom Labs Inc.
Special Investigation of AT&T and the Texas Public Utility Commission
You are about to read a story that is sadly familiar these days.
These days we all watch the headlines about the lack
of government oversight that caused things like the Enron scandal, the financial meltdown, and the deplorable lack of integrity in
companies like AIG. It's enough to make anyone a cynic. Things are changing though. With the advent of a new administration,
people are actually starting to be held accountable for what they do. This accountability is being felt for the first time in
years by high profile corporations and executives who take advantage of the system, and dominate regulators whose lack
of enforcement action allows them to operate unchecked. If there is one underlying sentiment in the Obama administration
these days it is the need for more regulation. More often than not however it is not until someone blows the whistle that something
gets done. Folks, here in Texas we need more than a whistle - we need a bull horn. People need to know what is happening
here with AT&T (formerly SBC). Read on...
Nowhere in the USA is the regulation of AT&T more imporant
than here in Texas. Texas was the first state to approve AT&T's "271" application for deregulation in 2000. This
allowed AT&T to enter the long distance markets and to a large degree other profitable areas such as DSL. This single action
set the stage for the financial powerhouse AT&T has become today. That approval came however with conditions.
AT&T (then SWBT or SBC) committed to meeting certain Performance Measures (PMs) intended by regulators at the time to assure AT&T
competed fairly, and more specifically, not use its enormous market power and dominant position to squash its competitors.
Ok,
before going on, we want to be 100% frank with you. There are no pretexts here. This web site has been in operation
since 2004 and has been an outspoken critic of both AT&T's performance and of the regulators that are supposed to be watching them.
We have made no secret of our purpose and when AT&T does not play fair we do our best to expose their conduct. We have
collected millions of dollars for our clients that "OOPS!" AT&T forgot to pay in damages for non performance. As far as
we are concerned, we are doing the job the regulators were supposed to be doing.
But it's worse.
Based on
documents we received in Freedom of Information Act Requests (in Texas they call them Public Information Act Requests, or PIA) AT&T
has apparently manipulated the game right from the beginning. They controlled their own audits of performance, and
the regulators responsible apparently looked the other way, or worse, might have even helped. Click "NEXT" below to read
more.