Settlement Costs

Fri Nov 1 17:19:41 UTC 1996

> Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 17:31:39 -0500
> From: Scott Huddle <huddle at mci.net>
> Your argument changes from an economic one to a political one.  If
> you want to run for office, there are better forums.  If you want
> to convince people who are building commercial networks, get
> some facts.
>
In your reply to Dillon, you accuse him of having inaccurate figures.

Now, the fact is, he's probably not been around long enough to have read
the report, that has long since entered into the net consciousness. I
remember seeing it about 5-6 years ago.  I think it was a BellCore
study, but I may be misremembering.  It concluded that over half the
cost of operating the RBOCs was customer billing.

As I remember, it in turn was based on the reported figures to the PUCs
of the RBOCs, looking at the depreciated cost of the cable plant, the
stated cost of yearly plant maintenance, and the proportion of equipment
unrelated to billing.  As I remember, virtually all the switch
maintenance costs (particularly configuration and software) was unit
billing related.  All the customer service reps and such were assumed
billing related, while directory service operations were not.  Then,
proportion the management cost accordingly, and assumed that everything
else is billing related.

Now, that may have been an old report.  I'm sure MCI would be delighted
to reveal its current figures for plant depreciation and maintenance,
and the amount that it pays (the RBOCs) for unit timing and printing and
mailing the statements, along with all the payment collection costs.

When you are ready to send that to this list, I will accept your further
criticism here of Dillon's numbers.  Thank you.

WSimpson at UMich.edu
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BSimpson at MorningStar.com
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