Progress On Point The Local Telecommunications Marketplace

As we framed the issue in the flyer for today's program that you received, the topic is: What is the status of competition in the local telecommunications marketplace five years after the passage of the 1996 Telecom Act? And what changes in policy should be considered by the new FCC and the new Congress? It has been five years since the Act. [...] I should say at the outset that one of the fundamental premises of the Act, it's certainly one that at PFF we believe, was that the Act did contemplate that there would be competition in the local telecommunications marketplace, just as there would be in the other segments of the telecommunications marketplace. [...] The reason for that has to do with the old 80/20 rule in the telecom industry, which simply holds that about 20 percent of the best business customers in this industry continue to account for about 80 percent of the revenue. [...] I'm pleased to report that the proceeding to develop a record and move to that unified system is very close to release, as well, and I look forward to working with all of you in this room to developing the record. [...] The ironic thing is that some of the proponents of that position are the same ones that argued against it in the Act.