Deregulation

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In 1992, however, a new opportunity presented itself and One Wilshire’s height returned to its advantage. With the deregulation of the telecommunications industry, MCI required a tall structure on which to install microwave antennas that would be in close proximity to the SBC (formerly Pacbell and prior to that AT&T) central switching station at 400 S. Grand downtown.

One Wilshire was ideal for this task. Seeing a friendly environment close to the central switching station, competing long-distance carriers, ISPs, and other networking companies began to lay fiber optic cable to One Wilshire. As fiber technology has improved, the microwave towers on top have dwindled in importance – they are now used by Verizon for connection to its cell phone network. At the same time, the vast amount of fiber running in and out of One Wilshire allows telecoms the possibility of creating direct peer-to-peer connections in the structure, thereby avoiding charges imposed by linking through a hub.

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