I've come to believe that the need for an alliance between AOL and AT&T is a non-issue. AT&T has created a fiction by superficially attempting to protect against open access (i.e. high speed internet access via cable modem). In so doing, AT&T has tried to instill in our minds that cable modem is not only indispensable, but is the best and only way to go. Not so, I say.
AOL has a good bargaining chip when it comes to the table with AOL. Having lined up the baby bells for high speed internet access via DSL, AOL is, I believe, in a superior bargaining position. It may very well be that AOL, and not AT&T, is dictating the terms in this negotiation. It may well be that AT&T needs AOL more than AOL needs AT&T.
Of course, the rural areas are probably better and more efficiently serviced by cable modem as opposed to DSL, so it would appear to me that AT&T has more leverage in the rural areas; unless, of course, AOL affiliates in the rural areas with a satellite provider (such as SOFN), or microwave provider (such as TGNT or WCII) for high speed internet access.
What a dance. Round and round we go.
I believe AT&T and AOL will work out an alliance, on terms that are favorable to AOL. JMHO. |
