Complaints against regional phone companies have been mounting in recent months.
Svyazinvest holds controlling stakes in almost all of Russia's more than 80 regional phone companies.
Under the deal, Verizon, the nation's No. 1 regional phone company, had agreed to pay NorthPoint's shareholders $350 million.
How developers eventually fare against the regional phone companies, cable companies and other providers is anyone's guess.
Then, last July, NTT was split into two regional phone companies and a long-distance carrier that was allowed to operate overseas.
Cisco is seeking more orders from American regional phone companies as corporations spend less on Internet gear such as routers and switches.
Qwest Communications, a big regional phone company, has started an Internet-based telephone service in Minnesota; Sprint has a similar pilot project in Kansas.
Regional phone companies like Qwest must prove that their local phone networks are open to rivals before they can sell long-distance.
The 1996 Telecommunications Act requires the former Bell regional phone companies to open their markets to competition by leasing network components to new competitors.
Executives close to BellSouth, the regional phone company that lost a bidding war to WorldCom for Sprint last October, said that BellSouth was sitting tight for the moment.
SBC Communications, the nation's second-biggest regional phone company, said its third-quarter net income fell 29percentt as it lost business to competitors.
