Section 2.1: The Infrastructure

The telephone network as we know it is going through a lot of change. Change does not take place overnight, and a great deal has already been in preparation for what is to come. Probably the most significant change in the existing infrastructure has been the move to fiber optics. The reason for making this change involves a much more sophisticated plan. In order for telephone companies to offer the many new services they are working on today, the underlying infrastructure must change. This plan began deployment several years ago and is still under way today.

As we will see in this chapter, the divestiture caused another change in our nation's telephone network. The segregation of telephone companies as separate businesses had a significant impact on the topology of the telephone network. Suddenly, calling areas were being divided into Local Access and Transport Areas (LATAs), and telephone companies were finding their existing service areas were now under different rules.

Long distance service was no longer the market for local telephone companies, who were now forced on finding new avenues for creating revenues. In 1996, this changed again with the signing of the new telecommunications bill. Local telephone companies are once again able to seek revenues in the long distance market, and long distance carriers are now allowed to provide local telephone service in any of their market areas.

So why haven't the telephone companies taken advantage of these new rules? Because prior to entering back into...