Study says phone competition is here

Local telephone competition is alive and well in Pennsylvania, and consumers are beginning to see the benefits, according to a new study released last week by two conservative think tanks.

The study, by the Washington, D.C.based Progress & Freedom Foundation and the Commonwealth Foundation of Pennsylvania, affirms the prediction of state regulators, who said in September of 1999 that Pennsylvania's local telephone market would be "irreversibly" open to local competition within 12 months.

The study, called Local Exchange Competition: Progress in Pennsylvania, argues against a proposal that would force a structural separation of Verizon Inc., formerly Bell Atlantic. Under …