There
was a time in this country where all utilities such as: gas, power, electric,
and telephone service were all operated under the regulation of one single
company. In the early seventies AT&T was investigated for being a monopoly
of telephone service for the entire country and the result of that endeavor
changed the economic model for consumers. Now utility deregulation is law and
the process allows private firms to supply utility services rather than
restricting it to government-run agencies.
Telecom
deregulation was the best thing that could have happened for the consumer
because it created competition and benefits that lowered service prices. When
AT&T operated as a monopoly they could charge whatever they wanted for
their service and generally operate as they saw fit. It was common practice for
AT&T to rent out telephones to place in homes without the option of owning.
Soon after, the government stepped in and created The Telecommunications Act of
1996.
The
1996 Act was designed to open up telecom markets to competition and it relied
on rapidly spreading advancements in the industry by requiring companies that
used similar types of underlying network technologies to provide a single type
of service. The biggest example of this was that AT&T operated seven
regional providers of local telephone service and they supplied long-distance
service to them all, but under the 1996 Act they could no longer offer that
same long distance. They first had to prove that they had opened up the market
for long-distance to competition before they could throw their hat in that
ring. As a result long distance telephone rates decreased, the number of long
distance minutes used increased, while improved entry and competition into the
long distance telecommunications sector became a reality.
Use
your freedom of choice today and contact Business Network Long Distance for low
rates on your long distance bill.
