Competition elevates the importance of controlling costs in ways that are positive, vital and long-lasting. Strategic sourcing for capital and operating expenses is one such method. The Telecom Act of 1996 has permitted and facilitated new entrants into previously non-competitive or lightly contested businesses: for example, the RBOCs' entry into interLATA; cable television's entry into telephony; and interexchange carriers' move into local markets. The effects of a more open market began in late 1997, expanded in 1998, and promise to intensify in the foreseeable future.
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