February 25, 2002 -- Telecommunications competition in Illinois is robust and consumers will see increased benefits once SBC Ameritech receives long distance approval, said Carrie Hightman, president of SBC Ameritech Illinois at a Senate hearing on the state of competition and the Illinois telecommunications rewrite of 2001.

"If you have any doubt there is competition, pick up the newspaper, drive the roads of Illinois and read the billboards, open your mail, watch the TV commercials or simply listen to your radio," Hightman said. "These companies would not be spending the considerable amounts of money they are spending to advertise their services if they could not compete here in Illinois."

Hightman said that at the end of 2001, carriers other than SBC were providing local service to almost 1.8 million customer lines in the area served by her company. Those lines represent a 21 percent overall market share and a 69 percent increase from December 2000 to December 2001, Hightman told the Telecommunications Subcommittee of the Senate Environment and Energy Committee, chaired by Senator David Sullivan (R-Park Ridge).

Hightman said that the 21 percent market is significant and expressed confidence that competition would increase once her company was allowed into the long distance market in Illinois.

"This is what has occurred in other states," she said. "For example, in Texas, prior to the local incumbent being allowed into long distance market in July 2000, competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) served only 10% of the local market. They now serve 20%. In New York, the number of local lines served by CLECs grew by more than 130% in the first 22 months after the incumbent was allowed to offer long distance.

"Once SBC Ameritech is allowed to provide long distance service in Illinois, we can expect to see even more competition, which benefits consumers by giving them more choice and better values," Hightman said.

She charged that competitive companies are "cherry picking high-margin business customers" and "not stepping up" to provide residential customers the choices in basic phone service that lawmakers envisioned last year when they rewrote the Illinois telecom act.

"Our competitors in Illinois serve 29 percent of the business market, while virtually ignoring the lower-margin residential market," Hightman said, noting that CLECs serve only 15 percent of the residential market.

She added that CLECs are able to compete for both residential and business customers in every wire center in SBC Ameritech's service area. "The fact that they don't is nothing more than a business decision on their part," she said.

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