Thursday October 7, 2:07 pm Eastern Time
AT&T, MindSpring decline comment on open access
WASHINGTON, Oct 7 (Reuters) - AT&T Corp. (NYSE:T - news) and MindSpring Enterprises Inc. (NasdaqNM:MSPG - news) declined to comment Thursday on a report that the two companies were negotiating to allow MindSpring onto AT&T's cable Internet service.
Thursday's Wall Street Journal reported that No. 2 cable operator AT&T was in talks with MindSpring, one of the largest Internet service providers, to open access to AT&T's high-speed Internet system in Atlanta.
According to the report, which cited people familiar with the matter, the proposed deal also involved federal and local regulators and could have been used as a model for other such agreements around the country.
MindSpring, along with consumer groups, telephone companies and No. 1 Internet access provider America Online (NYSE:AOL - news), has been lobbying at the local and national level to have regulators force AT&T and other cable companies to provide open access high-speed Internet systems. The lobbying campaign has so far been successful only in a handful of communities.
As a result, cable companies have so far kept competitors off their new systems, requiring customers to purchase Internet services from a cable-owned provider such as Excite At Home Corp. (NasdaqNM:ATHM - news) or privately-held RoadRunner.
A spokesman for AT&T declined to comment directly on the report. 'We've always said we are willing to sit down and negotiate with Internet service providers,' the spokesman said. 'In no event should it involve government intervention or a government mandate.'
A MindSpring spokesman declined to comment.
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