Hi Mike,
I don't think that I stated an opinion as to what I thought GTE's motivation was in this situation, in reply to your statement:
"I don't understand what you are saying GTE's purpose was for making this rather strange announcement?"
If my conjecture is correct about their modality as a common carrier in this instance, and to a great extent you have corroborated this, then I think that we could conclude that this demo will assist GTE in drawing more ISPs to their venue, thus increasing the fare they could extract for cable modem services. Why choose AOL to partner with on such a demo? Who else would they draw in to prove the point, if not the largest of them all?
If I were a more suspicious soul, I'd suspect a possible pact with AOL on some level, whereby the demo serves multiple purposes:
First, as you say, GTE is allowed to show their stuff, while potentially being given a breather while the courts tie up T and the other ATHM partners. And secondly, the demo serves to bolster AOL's open access argument before the courts and the regulators.
I need to see more detail on what it was, exactly, that they did, and what they claim the parameters of this multiple ISP sharing is all about. I don't suppose there's a public application note or a white paper on this anywhere, do you? [g]
Any other ideas on this score?
Regards, Frank Coluccio |
