From: stephen@sprunk.org   
      
   On 02-Jul-14 10:37, Adam H. Kerman wrote:   
   > conklin  wrote:   
   >> "Stephen Sprunk"  wrote:   
   >>> Copper isn't being "abandoned" anywhere; it is quite valuable.   
   >   
   >> Its use for telephone service is being abandoned everywhere.   
   >   
   > Oh, for heaven's sake, George: There are selected places in which   
   > Baby Bells and ex-GTE (which absolutely DOES NOT apply to rural   
   > telephone coops nor exchanges that never were Bell nor GTE) are   
   > trying to get out of providing a traditional telephone switch in a   
   > central office serving copper loops to subscriber premisis. This is   
   > for regulatory reasons as they are required to provide wholesale   
   > rates to competitors who access the historic telephone plant. ...   
   >   
   > Non-Bell exchanges are regulated differently and, with some   
   > exceptions (like former GTE exchanges), are not subject to wholesale   
   > rates and competition. They have no regulatory incentive to abandon   
   > copper.   
      
   It's not about Baby Bells vs others.  Back in 1995, Congress said that   
   ILECs had to allow local competition before they could enter the LD   
   market.  ILECs that have chosen not to enter the LD market, such as many   
   rural coops, do not have to allow local competition.   
      
   Verizon found a way around the mandate, though: it only applies to   
   copper lines, so wherever they install FiOS, they cut the copper--and   
   that customer loses the option of switching to a CLEC.  AFAIK, no other   
   ILEC is doing this.   
      
   S   
      
   --   
   Stephen Sprunk         "God does not play dice."  --Albert Einstein   
   CCIE #3723         "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the   
   K5SSS        dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking   
      
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