THIS IS GETTING OUT OF HAND. WE NEED FCC'S KENNARD TO DO SOMETHING BESIDES JUST TALKING AND ACT TO STOP THIS CRAZINESS! ----------------------------- FOCUS-U.S. localities back open cable Internet
(adds FCC chairman comment, paragraphs 9-10)
By Aaron Pressman
WASHINGTON, July 20 (Reuters) - The cable industry suffered another setback in its effort to keep exclusive control of new high-speed cable Internet lines, as a leading municipal association on Tuesday backed open access for competitors.
Congress and federal regulators have so far allowed cable operators to keep competing Internet service providers off their high speed access lines, but a few local governments have prohibited such exclusive practices.
The National Association of Counties, meeting Tuesday in St. Louis, approved a resolution backing the right of local governments to require open access and urging the Federal Communications Commission and Congress to adopt similar policies.
"It is essential that local government franchise authorities have the authority to require that all cable companies provide open access to all Internet service providers," the resolution said.
If the FCC or Congress act, "the outcome should be an open access system that encourages competition between ISP providers," the resolution said.
Cable companies have argued open access requirements would be hard to implement and deprive them of revenues needed to pay for upgrades to their lines that allow high-speed service.
Their arguments have swayed the FCC and Congress but a federal court last month upheld the right of local regulators in Portland, Oregon to impose an open access requirement on AT&T Corp. as a condition of the company's purchase of Tele-Communications Inc.
Last week, regulators in Broward County, Fla., adopted a similar measure and Miami and San Francisco may soon follow.
The issue is sure to arise across the country as thousands of local governments assess AT&T's planned purchase of MediaOne Group.
The county vote did little to change the opinion of FCC Chairman William Kennard. In a speech in San Francisco, Kennard reiterated his opposition to regulation of Internet on cable.
"There is no sign that as this nascent market matures that the cable operator has an incentive to deny ISPs access to their platform," Kennard said. "It is not clear that the perceived benefits of mandating open access outweigh their apparent economic and technological costs."
Internet companies like America Online and MindSpring Enterprises along with public advocacy and consumer groups plan to lobby the local governments for open access. They welcomed Tuesday's vote by the counties.
"County officials understand the concerns and needs of their citizens," said Rich Bond, co-director of the OpenNet Coalition that includes AOL and MindSpring.
An AT&T spokeswoman said the policy backed by the counties would slow the deployment of high speed Internet service, which also allows cable companies to compete in the local telephone market.
"As FCC chairman William Kennard has said, the information superhighway won't work if 30,000 different localities each establish their own rules for Internet access," the spokeswoman said. "It would also slow the development of competition in local phone service and the roll out of new high-speed services to consumers."
The issue arose after cable companies began offering Internet connections over cable wires at speeds 50 to 100 times faster than ordinary connections over telephone lines.
The cable companies required customers wanting high-speed access to buy Internet services like e-mail and Web page hosting from a provider owned by the cable companies, like ExciteAtHome Corp. or privately-held RoadRunner.
Customers could reach any Web site but must pay for the cable company's service provider even if they would prefer another provider like MindSpring.
Telephone companies are forbidden from requiring customers using their lines for high or low-speed Internet access to also buy Internet services from a phone company affiliate. |
