Five Fundamentals for the Phone Network, Part 2: Interconnection and Competition

Public Knowledge proposed Five Fundamentals to guide the upgrade of our phone network to an IP-based infrastructure. The second fundamental identifies the continued need for interconnection and competition among phone service providers.

Interconnection requirements make sure that different phone networks connect with each other, so users can place a call to anyone else with a phone number, no matter which phone company the person being called uses. Interconnection has become a critical tool for developing competition among carriers—after all, if a smaller carrier couldn’t guarantee that you’d be able to use its service to call your friends, family, and business contacts, you would always need to buy service from the biggest carrier in order to be able to place the calls you want. As a result, the largest companies would only get bigger and bigger, leading to fewer choices and higher prices for subscribers. In contrast to the phone network, we sometimes see disputes in the markets for internet or subscription video services that disrupt service for customers.