 allowing the Bells to PRACTICAL IP AND TELECOM FOR BROADCAST ENGINEERING AND OPERATIONS compete in broadband services, allows them to compete with cable companies' Internet service offerings. However, this ideal was not to be. The structure of the new rules removes restrictions on broadband, also known as high-speed Internet access, but not traditional tele- phone service, part victory and part setback because the Bells' trad- itional telephone service will remain subject to regulation of state PUCs, and thereby likely to continue to require the Bells to make their network elements available for resale by competitive carriers. So it seems like the world, at least in the United States, the communica- tions landscape will continue to include the courts, various regula- tory bodies, and to quote FCC Chairman Michael Powell, "Picasso- esque," predicting it will lead to "legal and regulatory chaos." Where is all this turmoil leading? It's difficult as always to predict, but it's not difficult to get an indication from a simple look at the status of the local exchange business from the perspective of the dominant and not SO dominant players. First, the dominant players are generally considered to be the ILECs. The former RBOCs have for many years prospered from voice ser- vices sold to enterprise and residential customers. For the most part, these services are delivered via single-pair copper wire. Even where the services are delivered via fiber, the nature, character, and per- formance of the facilities delivering the service is bound by the constraints inherent in channelized, 64-Kbs T-carrier or PDH access, switching and transport hierarchy. Unchannelized facilities are avail- able, but are simple point-to-point private lines. Digital interface to, and transport through, ILEC network facilities is limited to T1 and A financial glance will show suffering from declining revenue and high debt. Declining revenue from wired voice services-their bread- and-butter-is being made up by mobile or wireless voice services. Ove