PUCO DECISION IS IMMINENT ON SBC/AT&T MERGER: The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio is scheduled to rule tomorrow on the request by SBC and AT&T to approve their operation as a merged telecom provider in Ohio.

Ohio is one of two states where PUCs are still pursuing real investigations before applying the rubber stamp. The other is California, where the regulators issued a "proposed decision" two weeks ago approving the merger, but attaching some conditions proposed by consumer and community technology advocates.

A similar list of conditions is on the table in Ohio, put forward by a coalition that includes the Ohio Consumers' Counsel, community groups from Dayton and the Appalachian region, and two Cleveland groups represented by Joe Meissner of Legal Aid -- the Neighborhood Environmental Council and the Coalition for Fair Utility Rates. They're basically about broadband affordability and access for residents of Ohio's central cities as well as rural areas. (I had a hand in putting the list together as board president of the Ohio Community Computing Network, which consulted and provided testimony for some of the community intervenors.)

A few of the proposed conditions:

No more efforts by the merged company to restrict investments in broadband networks by local governments

Universal availability of DSL internet service for residents throughout the SBC service territory, within three years

A combined Lifeline rate of no more than $25 for basic telephone and broadband service for low-income homes

Funding support for community technology centers in low-income areas, as well as nonprofit community networking efforts

Kevin Cronin, a longtime community tech advocate here, and Angela Stuber of OCCN submitted an op-ed about all this to the Plain Dealer the week before last. It hasn't appeared in print, but strangely enough it's been posted since Monday in the PD's "other columns" section at cleveland.com.

Will the PUCO include any of this in its ruling tomorrow? It's not outside the realm of possibility. Their meeting starts at 10 am tomorrow, and I'm told it's viewable by real-time webcast -- check here to see if that's true. And stay tuned.

P.S. To see the Ohio consumer parties' entire proposal, download the whole brief here (it's a pdf file). The proposed conditions start on page 49.