LoopCo

Last updated April 20, 2019

LoopCo is an economic model created in the mid-1990s as a proposal to the Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Congress for the healthy development of competition in the local and long distance telephone industries in the United States.

In economics, a model is a theoretical construct representing economic processes by a set of variables and a set of logical and/or quantitative relationships between them. The economic model is a simplified, often mathematical, framework designed to illustrate complex processes. Frequently, economic models posit structural parameters. A model may have various exogenous variables, and those variables may change to create various responses by economic variables. Methodological uses of models include investigation, theorizing, and fitting theories to the world.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government created by statute to regulate interstate communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. The FCC serves the public in the areas of broadband access, fair competition, radio frequency use, media responsibility, public safety, and homeland security.

In economics, competition is a condition where different economic firms seek to obtain a share of a limited good by varying the elements of the marketing mix: price, product, promotion and place. In classical economic thought, competition causes commercial firms to develop new products, services and technologies, which would give consumers greater selection and better products. The greater selection typically causes lower prices for the products, compared to what the price would be if there was no competition (monopoly) or little competition (oligopoly).

While there was widespread support among competitors in the industry, the concept was not implemented. Instead, the Telecom Act of 1996 was implemented in a form that resulted in the reduction of telecommunications competition in the local loop. The original proposal was designed and named by Roy Morris, an adjunct professor at Capitol College, and with US ONE Communications, one of the early entrants in the local telephone business (and, incidentally, one of the first to exit that business). The fundamental economic principles were developed based on earlier research and publications of Jerry Duvall, a prominent economist at the Federal Communications Commission.

In telephony, the local loop is the physical link or circuit that connects from the demarcation point of the customer premises to the edge of the common carrier or telecommunications service provider's network.

Adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education.

Economist professional in the social science discipline of economics

An economist is a practitioner in the social science discipline of economics.

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