From: ahk@chinet.com   
      
   Stephen Sprunk  wrote:   
   >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.   
      
   Outside of Bell territory, no one was subject to Fg.B or Fg.D access,   
   so no direct-dial long distance via the carrier of my choice; it was   
   AT&T or nothing. For reasons I never understood, GTE was subject to   
   something similar. There was also this weirdness in which one could   
   use Fg.B or Fg.D methods to dial around even for intra-LATA as those   
   rates could be sky high in many instances, even though there was   
   allegedly a monopoly on completing local calls.   
      
   I miss Fg.B; you had to dial a whole lot fewer digits to "dial around"   
   than with Fg.D (even before it was extended) or using an 800 number.   
      
   I thought wholesale loops went back to Judge Green, no?   
      
   >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.   
      
   People I know who work for CLECs say it's done all over the place; there's   
   no Verizon territory near me. But the CLEC could re-connect the loop or   
   install its own wiring plant. The point is that it no longer pays REGULATED   
   wholesale rates to the ILEC.   
      
   With business customers or enough density, there are competing wiring   
   plants or the CLEC negotiations UNREGULATED wholesale rates separately.   
      
   Verizon won't get rid of CLECs in its territory.   
      
   Another point: It's not just legacy telephone plant, but legacy union   
   contracts tied to legacy telephone plant, versus hiring contractors   
   to do installations. They're paring down their payroll.   
      
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