Phone companies duke it out over local rates

Pittsburgh-based Full Service Network has been poised to hire 100 people, open a Harrisburg office and begin an aggressive marketing campaign in Central Pennsylvania.

But the company's president, David Schwencke, said he has been waiting for one thing: for the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) to lower wholesale rates for using Verizon's network. Schwencke might have had his answer Thursday, Oct. 24. That was when the PUC was scheduled to meet again.

Schwencke's plans would have been foiled if the PUC voted to favor a plan by Verizon Pennsylvania Inc. to increase its wholesale rates. The national telephone giant has argued that it can't cover its operating costs …