WorldCom and MCI, whose merger ICP and others, including the Communications Workers of America and the Rainbow Coalition, protested, were required to sell off part of their Internet backbone holdings. Here's a link to a New York State Public Service Commission Order in the midst of this battle. Bell Atlantic and SBC are periodically required to open their markets to competition, but do so only half-heartedly. Perhaps most important for the future, the independent, high tech companies like Teleport, who are running high speed communication wire networks and then selling out to the Baby Bells, have been excluding low income and minority neighborhoods with this new technology. This is an issue that ICP has raised repeatedly to the FCC and certain state communications regulators.
Universal service is the concept under which most of the country was wired for telephone.
Now, for the Internet, the federal government has proposed subsidizing rates, to public libraries, schools, and health facilities. Darren Haylock, visiting his parents in South Central, tried to call relatives in Belize using his MCI calling card. When Mr. Haylock later called from the suburban San Fernando Valley, his call went through without problem. His class action lawsuit followed. MCI-Worldcom refuses to list the areas it blocks calls from.