Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!torsqnt!hybrid!scifi!bywater!uunet!bu.edu!telecom-request From: john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Local Competition Comes to Illinois Bell Message-ID: Date: 3 Mar 91 20:07:00 GMT Sender: news@bu.edu.bu.edu Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: Green Hills and Cows Lines: 33 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 177, Message 3 of 9 On Mar 3 at 9:05, TELECOM Moderator writes: > What other communities and/or local telcos are entertaining the idea > of competition in local exchange service? What others are actually > implementing it at this time as is Illinois Bell? I would swear that if a person walked the streets of San Francisco and happened to utter the words, "Local Competition", a trap door would open in the sidewalk and the individual would never be heard from again. Pac*Bell, for good reason, is probably more afraid of LEC competition than any other telco in the country. Even as we speak, there are hearings covering the topic of competition in intraLATA toll traffic. Pac*Bell is of course bad-mouthing this with the argument that this "exclusivity" is what keeps "your telephone costs down". The threat is that basic rates will have to rise substantially to compensate for the loss of toll revenue. But the handwriting is on the wall. It appears that Pac*Bell will get its way in at least one aspect: the accessing of the intraLATA carrier. There will be no pre-subscription as there is with interLATA traffic. Each call will have to be prefixed with a THREE digit code, otherwise the call will be carried by Pac*Bell. This is no problem for those with dialers and smart PBXes, but, as usual, the Aunt Minnies of the world will still be patronizing Mother. Once again, Illinois Bell demonstrates why it is an industry leader and Pac*Bell proves what it is. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !