When asked about the government's role in breaking the competitive hold by regional Bells on local access as outlined in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 Powell reminded the audience of telecommunications and network executives that the local phone system has been in place for 100 years. And he noted it was originally a state-sanctioned monopoly model that couldn't easily, or quickly, be dismantled. They're like construction projects, he noted, and it takes a long time to produce infrastructures that can compete against the entrenched phone companies. Moreover, he cautioned that companies and consumers shouldn't confine their view of competition to the voice offerings of regional Bell look-alikes. Powell said he finds it interesting how people define local competition.
People say it's failed.
That's all coming out of what would have been a traditional call by a local telephone company. Consumers are frustrated . . . They're not having good experiences in the marketplace right now. But Powell said service providers, be they regional Bell companies or competitive local exchange carriers, also are hurting from high upfront capital costs for infrastructure changes needed for broadband deployment. There's little doubt that a robust data infrastructure will be important to the U.S., he said.