LESIGLATIVE MEMO
PARTNERSHIP FOR NEW YORK CITY
New York, New York
April 26, 2010
Opposition to S. 7263/ A. 2208-C – Telecommunications Merger and Acquisitions Regulations
The Partnership for New York City is an organization of business leaders and major employers dedicated to working with government, labor and the not-for-profit sectors to strengthen New York’s economy.
We urge you to oppose S. 7263/A. 2208-C, which would add burdensome and unnecessary regulation to merger and acquisition transactions made by telecommunications companies. While the bill seeks to insure that there is a clear public benefit to these types of transactions, in reality it only makes New York less competitive for investment and job creation by telecommunications providers.
Provisions in the bill that require added oversight and review by the Public Service Commission are redundant as mergers and acquisitions are already subject to thorough oversight at both the State and Federal level. Additionally, the bill contains provisions that would require telephone companies to use 40% of a transaction’s economic benefits for telecommunications-related infrastructure projects or return it to customers as refunds. This is arbitrary and would unfairly intrude in business decisions of these companies that could, in turn, result in loss of jobs and operations from New York State. The bill also challenges the widely accepted rights and privileges of shareholders and investors in companies when it awards financial benefits of investment to customers rather than those who took on the investment risk. Finally, by singling out the telephone industry and ignoring Voice over Internet Protocol (VoiP) service providers, the bill gives unfair advantage to the least regulated portion of the industry.
For these reasons, the Partnership for New York City respectfully urges the legislature to oppose this legislation. Thank you for your consideration.