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New Study By U.C. San Diego Researcher Shows California's Communications Marketplace Increasingly Competitive

Posted on: Thursday, 23 June 2005, 12:00 CDT

SAN FRANCISCO, June 23 /PRNewswire/ -- A recently completed study prepared by Michael Kleeman, Director of Cyber Infrastructure Policy Research at the University of California, San Diego, found that California's communications marketplace in 2005 is increasingly competitive. The study, "Not Your Father's Competition", finds that the vast majority of communications end-users have the opportunity to choose from multiple service providers who are competing on price, technology, features and service quality - from various industry sectors.

"The communications services marketplace has materially changed in the past decade, dramatically expanding the competitive landscape and altering how competitive forces operate," said Kleeman. "Today, residential and business consumers have the ability to choose from a range of services, technologies and providers in an increasingly competitive market. Put simply, it's not your father's competition."

Kleeman notes that when competition in telecommunications was discussed in the past, it had largely been evaluated from the providers' perspective, and along the lines of regulated entities. Today, he contends, industry distinctions like incumbent local carriers (ILECs) or long-distance carriers (IXCs) are less relevant.

"Competition should be evaluated from the buyers' perspective," said Kleeman. "That is, what is the consumers' ability to access a competitive supply for services, ranging from voice to data to video, from multiple providers in different sectors? The answer is clear: alternatives and choice are plentiful."

Kleeman also evaluated the impact of the proposed merger between SBC and AT&T on California consumers in the context of today's market.

"It is important to evaluate the merger in the context of what kind of companies AT&T and SBC have become today, not what these companies have been historically," said Kleeman. "It's also important to evaluate the impact of the merger in the context of today's market, where there are more choices, more substitute services and more technologies available to consumers and businesses than ever before.

If this proposed merger were to have been considered ten or even five years ago, the consumer impact might have been considerable. Today, there is little expected impact on consumer competitive choice."

The report was commissioned by AT&T. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991018/ATT ) About AT&T

For more than 125 years, AT&T (NYSE "T") has been known for unparalleled quality and reliability in communications. Backed by the research and development capabilities of AT&T Labs, the company is a global leader in local, long distance, Internet and transaction-based voice and data services.

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991018/ATT

AT&T

CONTACT: H. Gordon Diamond of AT&T, +1-415-442-2268, hgdiamond@att.com

Web site: http://www.att.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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