s, and high-speed voice and data links. The circuit court's ruling ended most of the deep discounts available to competitors in metropolitan areas under the initial pricing. The FCC spelled out a limited www.TechnicalPDF.com number of conditions under which eliminating these pricing rules impairs competition. In another blow to competitors, the courts ruled that incumbent telephone companies are not obligated to share fiber facilities built within 500 feet of customers. As a result, where fiber replaces copper or is within 500 feet of customers, local loops are not available to competitors. As a result of these court decisions, costs for carriers that don't have their own local central office switches, fiber networks, and local lines increased dramatically. The rules essentially made it uneconomical for most competitors to stay in business. They were all either purchased by competitors or went out of business. The Impact of the Telecommunications Act of A major impact of the Telecommunications Act is the legitimization of cable TV operators offering telecommunications services and telephone companies selling cable TV services. Although initially AT&T and Verizon suspended their residential cable TV build-outs, they now compete actively with cable TV providers and offer cable TV services themselves in parts of the United States. With their purchase of DirecTV, AT&T now also sells satellite television service. A second achievement is the mandate that local number portability be implemented. 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. Another benefit of the Act is that increased competition and investment in broadband facilities led to dramatic decreases in prices for high-speed Internet access and long-distance services for small and medium- sized businesses. As most competitors were absorbed 