NC Lawmakers May End Local Phone Company Oversight

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina legislators are considering ending decades of regulation of local telephone companies.

The state House is expected to vote Wednesday on a bill that would free phone companies from having the North Carolina Utilities Commission set their rates and service standard.

Big phone companies like AT&T Inc. and Embarq Corp. want to be free of state regulation because they say their monopoly position has been erased under competition coming from wireless, Internet and cable television companies. ...