The
RBOC's announcement brought outcries from several cities that had unsuccessfully sought Reserve Banks and charges that political considerations--especially Democratic Party interests--had unduly influenced the committee's decisions.
The Act determined that competitors should have three avenues of entry into local markets: as a facilities-based provider that built its own network; as a reseller of
RBOC services; or by leasing pieces of the
RBOC network.
The breakup created seven regional Bell operating companies, or
RBOCs, out of AT&T, leaving AT&T Corp.
For example, Wall Street analysts have downgraded their ratings of
RBOC stocks based on the lost profits associated with UNE rates (Commerce Capital Markets, 2002; Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein Securities, 2002; UBS Warburg, 2002).
But no one--not even
RBOC executive Richard Notebaert--denied that competing with another
RBOC could have been profitable, at least in the short run.
"I had one of the
RBOC reps in here a few months ago, and he was all fired up, so excited," Luther says.
Therefore, once-lagged regulatory dummies are included in the analysis and are based on whether the state follows rate-of-return regulation (guaranteeing an
RBOC a rate of return above its costs), has price cap regulation (where the incumbent
RBOC operates under a price ceiling), or has a rate case moratorium (prohibiting an
RBOC from requesting rate increases from the state regulatory authority) in effect.
Displacement of an
RBOC's additional lines by its own DSL service is clear cannibalization, resulting in increased revenue but at potentially higher cost.
Tollgrade Communications performed a statistically significant study in November 2002 to determine the relationship between Loop Test System (LTS) failures and false dispatches that can cost an
RBOC millions of dollars annually.
When a Regional Bell Operating Company (
RBOC) such as Qwest sells exchanges, he explains, it sells them as a group and not individually Therefore, a small company such as Manti Telephone, interested only in the Ephraim exchange in this particular sale, would only be able to purchase it as part of a coordinated group effort.
Currently all five Regional Bell Operating Companies (
RBOC) have ADC HDSLx offerings deployed in their networks.