Monopolies still rule the local phone markets.

Considers a report compiled by the Yankee Group which states that fewer than half of one percent of Americans receive their residential telephone service from a competitor to the monopoly provider. The reluctance of such likely local monopoly rivals as AT&T and MCI to enter the residential market; How the report reflects on the Telecommunications Act of 1996; Whether long-distance carriers will use the report to delay the Bell companies from entering the long-distance market.