(2) requires all carriers providing local telephone service on the day the statute was enacted to provide interconnec- tion to any carrier for the transmission and routing of long distance access that is equal in quality to the interconnection the local telephone company provides to itself on rates, terms, and conditions that are just, reasonable, and nondiscrimi- natory. The FCC construed this provision to apply only to the physical linking of the two networks and not to the charges for transporting and terminating long- distance traffic (FCC 1996c). Indeed, as the Eighth Circuit reasoned in upholding the FCC's decision, section 251(g) specifies that the preexisting equal access and interconnection requirements would remain in place until specifically superseded by the FCC (Competitive Telecomms. Ass'n V. FCC, 117 F.3d 1068, 1071-73 (8th Cir. 1997)). Because the advent of competition would put pressure on any cross sub- sidies embedded in access charges, the FCC initiated an access charge proceeding designed to make transport pricing entirely cost based (FCC 1997b). The 1996 Act similarly left undisturbed the mandate that local telephone com- panies must provide equal access to information service providers (FCC 1998a). It augmented those requirements with a number of other provisions, including requiring incumbents to allow information service providers to resell local tele- phone services at wholesale rates and to provide unbundled access to key elements of their networks. Concerns about preserving platform access also underlay the The Regulation of Local Telephone Networks statutory provisions in the 1996 Act prohibiting the former Bell operating compa- nies from offering long distance, information services, or alarm monitoring. The idea was that until competition emerged in local telephone service, these firms would have the incentive to discriminate against nonproprietary complementary service offerings (47 U.S.C. §S 251(c)(4), 271, 274, 275). As noted in Chapter 5, providing greater accessibility to comple