CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Local telephone competition will begin once other telephone companies build their own local networks, says the chairman of BellSouth Corp.<br>
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Duane Ackerman said Friday the federal government shouldn't force BellSouth to lease parts of its dominant local-phone network to competitors at wholesale prices.<br>
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When competitors can lease the lines instead of building their own, "it disincents investment," Ackerman said in an interview, "and that's not good for the country."<br>
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If competitors build their own networks, it would provide real competition rather than just resale on BellSouth's system, Ackerman said.<br>
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It would also help such struggling telecom manufacturers and developers as Nortel Networks Corp. and Lucent Technologies Inc. rebound, he said.<br>
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Competitors argue BellSouth had the advantage of building its local networks while it was part of the Ma Bell monopoly, dismantled in 1984. Companies no longer enjoy such luxury, and raising money to lay new lines is difficult.<br>
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They also want the leasing rates, which are set by state regulators, to be lower in the Carolinas.<br>
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Existing companies have more than 90 percent of the local lines in North and South Carolina. Competitors will battle with BellSouth in Raleigh at an N.C. Utilities Commission hearing scheduled in November, asking for lower leasing rates.<br>
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Under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, BellSouth had to open its local phone market to competition before it could get back into the long-distance business. It received FCC approval to do so last week.<br>
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BellSouth signed its first long distance customer at 12:20 a.m. Friday - Salem Academy and College in Winston-Salem.<br>
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