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Third
Anniversary of Telecom Act
BellSouth's Data Surpasses Voice; Call For
Deployment Of Advanced Services To Handle Increasing Traffic
For Immediate Release:
February 8, 1999
The explosion of computer usage has hit a dramatic milestone --
half of all traffic on the BellSouth telecommunications network is
data, surpassing voice for the first time.
On the third anniversary of passage of the Telecommunications Act
of 1996, Mike Seebert, BellSouth regional director, predicted that
voice traffic would drop to 10 percent by 2008.
"It's not that voice is declining, on the contrary, it continues
to grow, doubling every 12 years, but data traffic over the internet
-- e-mail, orders from retail businesses and the like -- continues
to double every 100 to 120 days," Seebert reported. "The ability to
use computers in business and personal life is opening new
opportunities for individuals and companies throughout Kentucky."
The ease of using communications links and the dramatic drop in
their cost means that suddenly small-and mid-sized businesses and
other institutions can now afford network technologies that in the
past only big companies could afford. So more businesses are using
the internet to link up all their locations.
Seebert noted the irony of the fact that the word "internet" is
used only twice in the 1996 telecom law and then only
parenthetically. "If you listen to the public debate on the Telecom
Act, you would assume that the only thing at stake is local 'voice'
service," Seebert declared. "And, I fear that federal regulators are
regulating the industry now as though the telephone is the cutting
edge communications device."
Turning to the third anniversary of the signing into law of the
Telecom Act, Seebert said, " clearly it has not delivered the
competition some said it would in local, residential service. It has
delivered competition in business - for large businesses and other
large institutions."
"Every company has limited capital; they want to put it where
they'll get their best return, so we don't blame any company for
serving business customers. What we don't like is people claiming it
is our fault there is not local residential competition. We've
opened our networks, we've done our part, now it depends on the
motivation of our competitors."
BellSouth issued a report tallying the extent of local
competition and BellSouth's investment in ensuring that competition
works. More than 40,000 telephone lines are served by competing
telephone companies in BellSouth's Kentucky operating region. Their
competition was made possible by 141 interconnection agreements, 800
employees within a network and carrier services group at BellSouth
dedicated to serving competitors and training offered free from
BellSouth to our competitors' service order personnel.
Having opened the market, Seebert concluded, "We want to get on
with deploying the advanced technology that can handle the
increasing traffic on the internet. But under current rules, it is
just not feasible to do so in all of our markets. Our ability to
offer long-distance service is an essential part of delivering the
data services our customers are demanding."
BellSouth is a $23 billion communications services company. It
provides telecommunications, wireless communications, directory
advertising and publishing, and Internet and data services to nearly
34 million customers in 19 countries worldwide.
###
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A list of BellSouth
Media Relations Contacts is available in the Corporate Information
Center.
Click
here to find the latest on BellSouth Application to FCC to Offer
Long-Distance Service in Georgia and Louisiana.
NOTE: For more information about BellSouth, visit the BellSouth
Web page at http://www.bellsouth.com/.
Also, BellSouth news releases dating back one year are available by
fax at no charge by calling 1-800-758-5804, ext. 095650 or write:
for Atlanta releases 1155 Peachtree St., N.E.; Atlanta, Ga.
30309-3610 and for DC releases; 1133 21st St., N.W.; Suite 900;
Washington, D.C. 20036.
A list of BellSouth
Media Relations Contacts is available in the Corporate Information
Center.
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