NATIONAL POLICY relating to the desirability of allowing competition in local phone service markets has changed dramatically since the 1982 consent decree in United States v. AT&T,[1]� which split AT&T from Bell Telephone Co. and created seven new “Baby Bells” with regional monopolies in local phone service markets.
Prior to 1996, Congress allowed monopolies in local phone service markets on the rationale that multiple local providers would lead to unwarranted duplication in the physical connecting wires through which local calls are transmitted.[2]� In 1996, however, that policy changed. At that time, in an attempt to “promote competition and reduce regulation in order to secure lower prices and higher quality services for American telecommunications consumers and encourage the rapid deployment of new telecommunications technologies,”[3]� Congress enacted the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (1996 Act),[4]� which amended the Communications Act of 1934 (1934 Act).[5]�
