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- Computer Anarchists Underground Tfile #010 -
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   Title: FCC opens local phone market
  Author: M.C. Allah
Released: 9-18-92
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          Well, this article appeared in the Houston Post on
     September 18, and I thought it might be of interest to some
     people, so here it is:

     FCC opens local phone market
          The Federal Communications Commission moved
     Thursday[9-17-92] to open the $90 billion local telephone
     exchange market to new competition.
          FCC Chairman Alfred Sikes said the order, which requires
     local exchange operators such as the regional Bell telephone
     companies to offer their facilities to smaller comminications
     companies, is "a historic step."
          He said access to local markets was "one of the few
     remaining monopoly reserves of the American telephone
     business."
          The decision could be a boon to such companies as
     Metropolitan Fiber Systems Inc. and Teleport Communications
     Group, both of which operate fiber optic networks in Houston.
          Under the order, "competitive access providers" such as
     Teleport will be able to install their equipment inside local
     telephone company switching centers, rather than having to run
     a dedicated line to a customer's building.  The ruling will
     allow the competitive access providers to connect directly
     with long-distance carriers.
          Long distance companies have a similar arrangement,
     allowing interstate calls to pass through local telephone
     company networks and into the home.
          In a related move, the agency also adopted a new rate
     structure that would allow a two-year transition to more
     flexible pricing on fees charged by local service providers to
     long-distance carriers.
          The regional phone companies, created during the breakup
     of American Telephone & Telegraph Co. in 1984, initially had
     feared they might be hurt by the increased competition unless
     the FCC also adopted a new pricing structure.
          Analysts said the impact on regional phone company
     revenues would not be felt immediately, given the FCC's
     decision to phase in the new rate structure.

     What does this mean for us phreakers and hackers?
          Remember the AT&T breakup?  It was in the confusion
     caused by this and the formation of new telephone companies
     like sprint and MCi that toll phraud was "safe."  I would
     expect that these new phone companies
     will have a lot of problems with stopping k0de abuse at first,
     and probably the regional Bell companies will not be to happy
     to help them.  So, I would expect some positive results from
     this change.
[--------------------------------------M.C. Allah----------------------------]
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