 increas- ing, particularly among the traditional wire-based carriers. As the prices for using the network dropped in response to competition, total revenues fell because the Internet was not increasing network use fast enough to offset the effects of declining prices. Wireless or "cellular" carriers were rapidly diverting traffic from the wire-based carriers just as the new local entrants were beginning to lure large numbers of subscribers away from the incumbent local companies. Ebb tide was not the best time to launch more boats. Yet another issue concerned the incumbent Bell carriers, which had been kept out of long-distance services since being divested from AT&T in 1984. The 1996 act would allow them back once they proved that they were cooperating with regulators in providing entrants with access to their networks. For the first four years, regulators were reluctant to approve Bell entry into long distance. As the entrants raced ahead to enroll 10 percent or more of the country's subscriber lines in 2001-02, the regulators could no longer deny the Bell companies the right to offer long-distance services. In one state after another, these companies added to the downward pres- sure on long-distance rates initiated by the wireless carriers in 1999. The troubled long-distance companies-WorldCom Qwest, Global Crossing, and even AT&T-now operated under a new set of competitive pressures. As this book is being written, it is far from clear that any of the indepen- dent long-distance companies can survive. The Future? As 2005 dawns, few observers, regulators, or industry participants can be sure how the U.S. or world telecom sector will evolve. Past exercises in true Introduction U.S. deregulation have often been followed by years of turmoil. 16 The air- line industry, for example, is going through another series of bankruptcies and near bankruptcies twenty-seven years after deregulation began because newer U.S. carriers, such as Southwest, Air Tran, Jet Blue, and Frontier, are now wreaking havoc on the older indu