Small telephone companies are finding ways around the Baby Bells to offer the first grain of telephone choice for business customers in Illinois (“Small phone companies find new law works to their advantage,” Business, Feb. 21). For residential and small business consumers, however, the monopoly barriers remain.
While carriers have decided to build their own networks in areas the Bells have not deemed a priority, the majority of customers are still locked in to the Bells’ facilities. By holding Ameritech and the Baby Bells to the standards established in the Telecommunications Act and forcing them to open their markets, these carriers and others will be able to offer innovative services to residential and small business customers across the country–not just a select few in high-profit areas.
Competitors should not have to avoid the Bells in order to provide service. The Telecommunications Act was written to open the Bells’ markets and give fair and equitable access to all carriers. Virtually every wire into our homes is operated by the Bells. For most of us, there is no way around them.
