MISSING LINKS

摘要

The weak link—it can lay waste to the strongest of business plans, keeping most promising markets out of reach and trashing years of painstaking work. The process of introducing competition into the U.S. local tele-phone market is riddled with weak or missing links. The hostile negotiations that are now dragging out the business arrangements under which new competitors can gain access to the local network are proof that the interconnection chain isn't all it should be. Right now, incumbents and their would-be competitors are waiting for lawyers and judges to forge the legal links that ultimately will guide competition in local markets. But while most of the industry's attention is now focused on the courts, a much larger and more formidable challenge looms ahead.