..If the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) had delivered on the promises they made in the early 1990s, almost half of America’s households and the vast majority of the nation’s schools would already be wired with high-speed fiber optic networks.
.. The Bells told regulators they would wire more than 44 million households by the year 2000. Then, in many instances, they used those promises to convince regulators to replace traditional rate-of-return regulation with alternative regulatory schemes.
..The new regulatory plans gave the Bells more profits, ultimately making them some of the most profitable companies in the nation. Bell profit margins are more than double that of other regulated utilities and the major long distance phone companies and literally 167% above the profit margins of some of America’s best-known companies.
..Consumers have already paid over $45 billion in extra telephone charges, and continue to pay over $8 billion annually.