Business Wire search Local Sites Inq. Moreover, it may mark the start of actual competition for local telephone service, which is currently monopolized in these parts by Bell Atlantic.
Consumer advocates are less hopeful.
That's exclusive access, too. Unlike local phone companies like Bell Atlantic, cable providers are under no obligation to share the wires with competitors. That's a huge concentration of market power on the main line of the information superhighway. A spokesman for Bell Atlantic chimed in with similar unease. Of course, Bell Atlantic isn't totally out of the picture.