Round Table

…ON AT&T CORP.’S PROPOSAL TO PROVIDE CONSUMERS LOCAL PHONE SERVICE OVER ITS OWN SWITCHED NETWORK IN EXCHANGE FOR LOWER WHOLESALE RATES ON THE REGIONAL BELLS WIRES CONNECTING HOMES TO TELEPHONE CENTRAL OFFICES.

“If the Bell companies accept this offer, the industry’s leaders can turn confrontation into conciliation by solving one of the most significant controversies since the inception of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.”

- AT&T Chairman and CEO Dave Dorman

“It is significant and important for the telecommunications industry that AT&T has signaled that it plans to use more of its own facilities to provide local phone service. In the long run, the transition to facilities-based competition holds out the best promise of real benefit to America’s telephone consumers.”

-FCC Chairman Michael Powell

“AT&T’s proposal is a new approach and shows a great deal of creativity and innovative thinking. What’s unclear is how the Bells will react. This proposal by AT&T gives us a peek into what until now have been behind-closed-doors negotiations with the Bells. They’ve probably been getting nowhere which begged for a new approach. This shines a more public light on the process.”

- Analyst Jeff Kagan

“Once again, AT&T is trying to perpetuate government controls of a marketplace that has become intensively competitive and should be controlled by the consumer.”

- BellSouth Corp. statement