New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-06-15
TELEPHONE COMPETITION.


The action of the Board Of Estimate and Ap-
portionment in voting TO recommend the granting
of franchise to the Atlantic Telephone Com
pany probably means. If the Mayor shall approve
1t, that we shall have telephone competition In
this city. The offer Of the Atlantic company In
Its application for a franchise a year ago was
an attractive one. 1t asked for a grant Of
twenty-five years, with the privilege Of renewal
for the same period at the end of fifty years the
plant and property of the company to 90 TO the
city without compensation. In addition the
company was TO pay the city percentage Of Its
gross receipts. which must not fall below q
total of $2.S75,0Oo for the first twenty-five years
The city was to have the use of one thousand
telephones free and rates to private subscribers
were to be lower than at present. This offer is
so liberal that, If the city Is satisfied that the
Atlantic company is financially able to carry out
It's proposal, II would have difficulty in refusing
franchise except upon the broad ground that
competition in the telephone service is undesir-
able.
OF this undesirabllity we think that there can
be no doubt. The telephone is a natural mOnop-
oily. subscriber wishes to be able to reach
with his instrument every other person in the
same city or the same vicinity who possesses a
telephone 1t is to his advantage to do so, and
it is an advantage worth paying for If he has
his choice between telephone service reaching
one hundred thousand subscribers and one reach
Ing five hundred thousand, the latter is worth
more TO him. If in place of the two systems he
may subscribe to one reaching the whole six hun
dred thousand, he Is better off than as a sub
scTiber TO either OF the ott rs. If in this CITY
the Atlantic company is successful and builds I'D
considerable list Of subscribers, then business
houses will be compelled to subscribe to both
systems, and this will be costly and bothersome.
gIlbSprihprs IN tvro
the same the cost of the telephone service with
two companies in the field will be increased:
Those who are subscribers to only one company
Will have at their command a limited service and
VIII be unable to reach the patrons Of the other
There is no economy in having competitive sys-
TENS, for they involve a costly duplication OF
plants upon which. If both remain solvent the
public must pay dividends
There can be no public gain In competition I'M
less the service Of the existing monopoly is anti
quated, inadequate or unreasonably expensive.
and II In no other way except by competition
the monopoly can be induced TO improve Its SER
vice and put into use the best of modern inyen-
tions. In such case the introduction of n rival
Into the field may be public necessity, even at
the cost of inconvenience through two systems
Inc existing monopoly Is doubtless open to some
criticism. Its rates are slightly higher than are
the rates in other cities. Still the service hero
Is propapiy more expensive TO the company
than in other cities, and the company has re-
Gently reduced rates. 1t is said that the present
company fails TO use tue latest improved devices
and that the Atlantic company possesses impor-
tant patents which will improve and cheapen the
telephone service TO the people. Monopolies tend
to refuse 10 use the latest improvements. for
1t is to their financial advantage not TO invest
In new equipment. To correct this tendency
competition may sometimes have to be called
into the field, but we not aware that in this
or in any other respect the present monopoly ex-
hibits such defects as TO cause public complaint:
on the contrary, the public is reasonably well
satisfied with the present service.
From these considerations 1t is apparent that