M technology remains on the shelf. A Falling Price Lowers All Carriers' Ships Needless to say, the price of bandwidth has been falling rather steadily. This is most pronounced at the wholesale level. Retail long distance prices have a dynamic of their own. Low-volume callers are not terribly profitable. They are most likely to get service from their local exchange carrier, now that all of the RBOCs have the necessary Section 271 authority [13]. But wholesale prices have been impacted dramatically. By 2004, Verizon became the second-largest long distance carrier, in terms of number of subscribers. But its average per-subscriber revenue was low. AT&T, MCI, and Sprint concentrated on larger business customers and 800 service. AT&T's 2003 revenue was almost 9% below its 2002 revenue, whereas Sprint's wireline revenue-a mix of local and long distance-was down 1.6%. MCI's was down 10%. This was not just attrition of customers to ILECs; it was the result of a general fall in prices. By 2004, leased OC-3 circuits (155 Mbps) were available between New York and Los Angeles for $5,000 per month. The Great Telecom Meltdown Twenty years earlier, a single DS1 circuit on that route, 1/84th of that capacity, was about $60,000 per month. For most of the intervening years, increased sup- ply was met by expanding demand, leading to increased overall revenues. But since the meltdown, a glut has led to falling revenues, with no end in sight. Endnotes [1] Toll-free inbound calling was originally called "Inward WATS," then renamed "800 serv- ice." This name is a bit anachronistic, of course, in light of the additional service access codes in the 8nn range that subsequently have been assigned to it. [2] Steinberg, S., "Crucial Tech: Telecom Goes Qwest,", Wired, March 31, 1998, http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,11371,00.htr Level 3 did retain some of Kiewit Diversified Group's other assets, ranging as far afield as KCP Inc., a coal mining firm. [4] Level 3 press release, "Level 3 Sells Junk Bonds," April 27, 1998. [5] Level 3 p