They say the incumbent local ex change carriers are flouting the federal Telecom Act of 1996, which requires those carriers to open their local loops.
Some telecom providers say the incumbents charge unreasonable prices and create service delays.
That concept would make a carrier's retail unit line up alongside other CLECs to purchase services from the carrier's wholesale operation. Proponents contend that would create an even playing field. A number of states have been petitioned to require structural separation or have seen bills floated. In February, Access Integrated Networks, a Macon, Ga., telecom provider, asked nine Southeastern states to compel Bell South to create separate retail and wholesale operations. Also in February, two structural separation bills were introduced in the Illinois legislature, in the heart of Ameritech country.