The US Federal Communications Commission voted to end the Baby Bells’ monopoly on local telephone service, and to require them to give competitors easier access to the public switched telephone network; it also voted to ease regulatory price formulae that monopoly local carriers have to charge for dedicated service, making it easier for the Bells to compete with the new thrusting operators of Metropolitan Area Networks; the Commission also voted to take steps that would free frequencies presently used by utilities, railways and the militia for pocket telephone services; and set new rules to curb random telephone marketing using autodiallers by requiring operators of such systems to keep lists of customers that have demanded they be left alone.
