Competitive Telecommunication Providers Form Coalition In Massachusetts To Improve Local Entry Conditions

Boston, MA, October 14, 1998 --

A group of key resale and facilities-based telecommunications
companies operating in Massachusetts announced today the formation of
Breakthrough Massachusetts, an industry coalition committed to
opening the local service market to meaningful competition. Founding
members include Covad, CTC Communications Corporation, Intermedia
Communications, MCI WorldCom, Sprint Communications, USN
Communications, Winstar and the Telecommunications Resellers
Association (TRA), an industry group representing more than 650
telecommunications companies nationwide.
"The Telecommunications Act of 1996 offered the promise of an
open and competitive local telecommunications marketplace. As we
approach the third anniversary of the passage of the Telecom Act, the
local telecommunications market in Massachusetts is still in the
hands of the incumbent monopoly, Bell Atlantic," said Chris
Gregory, Executive Director of Breakthrough Massachusetts.
"Business and residential consumers in the Commonwealth have yet
to realize the benefits of lower pricing, improved customer service
and product innovation that an open marketplace would bring," he
said.

"Although the members of Breakthrough Massachusetts will
compete for local exchange customers, we are united in our goal of
bringing true competition to customers throughout Massachusetts"
said Jordan Michael, Director of Regulatory Affairs at CTC
Communications, a Massachusetts-based reseller of local service.
"There is no competition when Bell Atlantic still controls more
than 98% of the resale marketplace," he stated.

"As a coalition, we plan to help regulators, legislators and
consumers foster a truly competitive environment that will level the
playing field, allowing all companies the opportunity to provide
superior service and innovative products to business and residential
customers," Michael added.

"The Coalition looks forward to working with state
policymakers to open the Massachusetts telecommunications markets to
competition," said Robert Lopardo, MCI WorldCom Director of Law
and Public Policy for the Northern Region. "We are pleased that
the DTE has been provided with additional resources and that all
seats on the Commission are filled. These developments signal a new
opportunity for the DTE to make great strides in driving a
procompetitive agenda."

Specifically, Breakthrough Massachusetts will call on state
policymakers to quickly resolve certain priority issues, including
the setting of permanent forward looking cost-based prices for
competitive access to the public switched network; establishing a
means of accessing the network that is available to all competitors;
implementation of operational support systems that allow new entrants
to offer local service on a commercial scale; ensuring building
access for all certified carriers on non-discriminatory terms, so
that business and residential customers in multi-unit buildings can
secure service from the carrier of their choice; and the development
of meaningful enforcement mechanisms to ensure fair play by the Bell
Atlantic monopoly.

"For example," Lopardo said, "Bell Atlantic has
still not built the systems that competitors must use to switch
customers to their networks. The Telecom Act said these automated
computer systems are a fundamental component of local competition,
yet Bell Atlantic is almost two years past the deadline for
implementing them. This foot dragging cannot be allowed to
continue."

Another founding member of Breakthrough Massachusetts, Intermedia
Communications, is a rapidly growing facilities-based carrier with
its eyes on the Massachusetts market. Don Davis, Intermedia's
Assistant Vice President for Industry Policy, explained that
"Intermedia looks at several factors in timing its entry into a
particular market. One of those factors is whether regulatory
guidelines are in place to effectively require the incumbent local
carrier to open its monopoly market to competition. We are glad to be
a part of Breakthrough Massachusetts, which is dedicated to working
with regulators to ensure that existing regulatory barriers are
removed and entry for carriers such as Intermedia is
encouraged."

Craig Dingwall, Sprint's Director of State Regulatory
Affairs-East, said: "In 1996 Congress mandated the national
policy for local competition, but very little has developed due to
the difficulty and cost for competitors to connect their equipment to
Bell Atlantic's network and Bell Atlantic's failure to
implement systems that enable customers to switch to alternative
local service providers. Instead, Bell Atlantic is more interested in
merging with other monopolies than opening the local market to
competition in Massachusetts."

While customers and competitors clearly are being hurt by the lack
of local competition, many of the Commonwealth's emerging growth
industries are dependent on having access to cutting edge
telecommunication innovation and service. The continued growth of the
Massachusetts economy is in a large part directly connected to the
vitality and expansion of the telecommunications industry

In a report about the Massachusetts economy issued by MassInc, a
public policy think tank based in Boston, it was stated that
"the State's telecommunications network is as important to
the Massachusetts economy as was the creation of the interstate
highway system 50 years ago."

Breakthrough Massachusetts aims to leverage the combined resources
of its members to ensure that customers, competitors and the
Commonwealth as a whole will realize the benefits that competition
fosters.

"Through our efforts, Breakthrough members hope to have
Massachusetts lead the way to local competition," said
Gregory.