Verizon/MCI Commentary Part III

Peter Eisenhut is Principal, Eisenhut & Associates, and a member of the Society of Telecommunications Consultants. Here's his take on the subject of Verizon/MCI...

What will be the impact of the purchase of MCI by Verizon, and the purchase of AT&T by SBC ??  Anyone who has the answers could either become very rich or locked up for lunacy. Neither is likely in my case, but I do have some questions:

• If the deals go through, SBC and Verizon will have bought up most of the competition they had for local exchange service.  At the same time, the requirement for SBC and Verizon to provided unbundled network elements (UNE-P) at discounted prices to competitors (CLECs) is also evaporating. Can we expect higher prices for traditional phone service as a result? Will consumers look elsewhere for service?
• Who will large enterprises go to if they want national service?  Won't Verizon and SBC try to lock each other out of the other's territories?  If you are a Verizon-MCI customer in the East, will it take forever for you to provision local loop connections for your offices in the West? And vice versa?
• Will Verizon and SBC focus too much on beating each other, thereby ignoring the real competition? Without UNE-P, competitors will begin to provide service in ways that are cost effective for them.  This may mean more competitors that provide voice over Internet protocol (VOIP), especially where they can use existing data facilities such as DSL, T1, or cable, independently of the underlying local facility provider. Will the national carriers of tomorrow be companies like Vonage?