Well, now it's 1996, and a lot of people think that the subtext of the Bellcore report is that the Regional Bell Operating Companies are gearing up for a massive anti-exemption lobbying campaign. But this time, there's likely to be even bigger opposition to the plan. We believe that the access charges that the local exchange companies are charging are really exorbitant. We think that when the local exchanges bring down the access charges to a more reasonable level, something approaching costs, then that is the time to look at bringing the access fees for the data circuits into line with the other charges. Teenagers talking to their friends result in long holding times.
Conference calls result in long holding times.
Lengthy faxes, possibly the kind you sent me on Friday, result in long holding times. James Gordon and Amir Atai, the authors of the report in question, deny the charges. They say their report is pure scientific research. Simply stated, today's telephone network wasn't designed to bring phone calls from an entire metropolitan area into a single local exchange. If services keep growing the way they have been, something is going to have to give.