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Ma Bell's back.
Last month, AT&T Corp. started offering local residential phone service to Orange County and other California residents. Up to now, AT&T has offered local calling just to businesses. The move marks the return of AT&T to local home service here after the company's landmark 1984 breakup that created Pacific Bell and other regional offshoots.
And AT&T clearly has Pacific Bell in its sights. The company is offering broader local calling zones than Pacific Bell does for a flat $19.95 fee, about 20% less than a comparable Pacific Bell plan.
AT&T's move is a big piece in the telecommunications deregulation puzzle. The 1996 Telecommunications Act cleared the way for local competition. Regulators initially thought the act would spawn upstarts seeking to take on the incumbent Baby Bells and AT&T.
While so-called competitive local exchange carriers lured venture funding in the late1990s, many since have gone out of business. What's left is a handful of big names facing off with each other for the fruits of deregulation.
Pacific Bell has been trying to get into long-distance-AT&T's turf-since 1998. And it's almost there. The unit of San Antonio-based SBC Communications Inc. recently got a recommendation from state regulators to be approved to offer long-distance here.
The...