Changing ground rules for carrier negotiations

There have been about 1,600 to 1,800 customer-specific service arrangements arranged with major interexchange carriers (IXCs), while many customers have revised their initial agreements. AT&T's Tariff 12 and contract tariff offerings, Sprint Bulk Service Agreements and MCI Special Customer Arrangements are examples of such service arrangements. Decreasing regulation, lesser public exposure of negotiated arrangements and increasing fees charged by IXCs for inbound and outbound swithced and dedicated offerings are the key factors affecting negotiated arrangements.
Decreasing regulation, private deals and fluctuating prices add new challenges to negotiating customer-specific arrangements with carriers. There's no question that negotiating service arrangements with major interexchange carriers (IXCs) has become [...]