lt Guide to the Top Telecom Employers Introduction Untangling the wires As the long-distance market diversified, the local exchange market remained relatively homogenous. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 aimed to change that, deregulating entry into local markets and requiring that the so-called Baby Bells, or incumbent local phone companies, retail their network elements to smaller competitors. The incumbents were required to open their networks at reasonable prices, with the goal of decentralization of the system into a "network of networks." The act also temporarily blocked an RBOC from entering the long-distance market until it could prove that there was sufficient competition in its local territory. Another provision of the Telecom Act, allowing RBOCs the right to sell cable television services and phone equipment, proved to be a boon for the strongest RBOCs. Thanks to those services and the entry of the Babies into long distance, the Telecom Act actually had the opposite of its intended effect, allowing a few RBOCs to solidify their positions and dominate the market through mergers and acquisitions. Today, there are just four RBOCs - Verizon Communications, BellSouth Corp., SBC Communications, and Qwest Communications International - dominating both local phone service access and the burgeoning DSL (digital subscriber line) markets. Still, sniping among the RBOCs and long-distance giants like MCI and AT&T over network access rights continues. As late as May 2004, the FCC was engaged in a dispute between the Baby Bells and the long-distance carriers, as the LD companies argued for increased access to local calling networks. Merger mania The Telecom Act ushered in an era of merger fever among telecom companies. In 1997, Bell Atlantic purchased little sib NYNEX for $25.6 billion, and SBC bought Pacific Telesis. The following year, SBC acquired local and long-distance provider Southern New England Telecommunications, entering the LD market through this Telecom Act loophole. SBC also acquired Baby Bell Amerite