What does line sharing mean for Covad?
There are a couple of key components. Covad went into business right after the Telecommunications Act was passed. We built 1,000 central offices including residential areas. Its like building a fleet of aircraft but filling them only with business class customers. Its great if you can do it but realistically you cant. You need to be in the mass market given the hundreds of millions of dollars weve already invested in this business. What is at issue now is whether Covad can penetrate the consumer space. Weve been at a cost and provisioning disadvantage up to now because weve had to pay $20 a line for a separate line while the phone companies have imputed zero cost of the loop to themselves because theyve provided their data services over their voice lines.
