Holland days are here again

It is difficult to pinpoint the beginning of the information age, but historians likely will point to the Telecom Act of 1996 as the beginning of its golden era.

"I think the Telecom Act will go down as the most significant piece of commercial legislation in 50 years," says Royce Holland, chairman and CEO of Allegiance Telecom.

Holland has enjoyed the distinction and advantage of having helped set the game rules for competitive local telephone service while at the helm of MFS Communications and now playing by them as the leader of Allegiance.

He began his career in telecom as one of the founders of MFS. The company came from nowhere to become a billion dollar-per-year wake-up call to America's regulated monopolies. On-lookers might see MFS as a rare success story that made some daring executives a great deal of money. But Holland measures success differently.

"Success is measured every day," Holland says. And every day, the long-term impact of his and his partner's success at MFS is more apparent. It plays a vital role, not only for the potential success of his new company but for every new start-up and solutions provider that comes along.

"When we started MFS, competition was almost a dirty word," Holland says. "It was illegal in all 50 states to compete for local dial tone."

In response, MFS proved that competition works even in a market largely closed to competition. The company was instrumental in developing the competitive checklist in the Telecom Act, and it opened continental Europe to competition by getting the first competitive licenses in France and Germany. "We had to literally go out and change the law to really have a legitimate and large market opportunity," Holland says.

While his most recent success is similar - Allegiance has created 1500 jobs in two years and raised more than $1 billion in capital - the challenge is different and more direct. Its primary goal is to make it as easy and seamless for a customer to change its local service as they can change their long-distance service.

"It's a matter of execution in the marketplace," Holland says. "It's making the Telecom Act a marketplace reality."

Allegiance will address half of the U.S. business market next year upon completion of its aggressive 24 market buildout.