communications Act initially spurred new investment in equipment and ser- vices. However, capital investments decreased after 2001, and many providers went out of business due to the high cost of building network infrastructure, the cost and delays associated with connecting to incumbent facilities, unfavorable regulatory rul- ings, and low retail prices offered in response to competitive bids. Growth and inno- vation in mobile services, which in turn is attracting increased investment capital, is reversing this trend. A major impact of the Telecommunications Act is the push of cable TV operators into telecommunications services and telephone companies into cable TV services. Although, in recent years AT&T and Verizon have suspended their residential cable TV build-outs. A second achievement is the mandate that local number portability be imple- mented. Consumers now take for granted that they can keep their telephone number when they change mobile carriers, drop their home phone service for mobile service, and keep their business number when they move or change providers. However, this was not the case prior to 1996. Moreover, small and midsize businesses have benefited from increased competi- tion, which triggered widespread affordable, high-speed Internet access. These organi- zations have more choices than larger enterprises. Competition, Industry Structures, and Regulations Large enterprises for the most part still rely mainly on AT&T and Verizon because of their global networks. However, they still use competitive carriers such as Level 3 and tw telecom (formerly part of Time Warner Cable) to supplement their network connections in the event of a major network outage at their primary carrier. Large orga- nizations are also more likely to use AT&T and Verizon for mobile services because they are the only providers with close to nationwide mobile networks. Unfortunately for most consumers, the choice for Internet access is often limited to the local cable TV provider. However, initial build-outs of telephone 