A little FCC to follow the FOMC main course this week?
i'm sure you saw this:
WASHINGTON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - High-speed Internet service
over telephone lines should get a boost next week from the
Federal Communications Commission, industry officials said on
Thursday.
The agency is expected to order major local carriers, such
as Bell Atlantic Corp. <BEL.N> and SBC Communications
Inc.<SBC.N>, to share their lines and allow competitors to
offer high-speed data service while the established carrier
continues to offer basic voice service to the same customer.
So-called line sharing could dramatically reduce the
monthly fees upstart data carriers have to pay the major local
carriers for leasing use of the copper wires that run into the
homes and businesses of customers.
Under current rules, data carriers have to pay the full
cost of a line even if they only want to offer high-speed
Internet connections.
The largest data-oriented upstart carriers are NorthPoint
Communications Group Inc.<NPNT.O>, Covad Communications Group
Inc.<COVD.O> and Rhythms NetConnections Inc. <RTHM.O>
All of the new companies, as well as the Bells, rely on
Digital Subscriber Line technology to speed Internet
connections. DSL transmits information over an ordinary phone
line in frequencies that cannot be heard by the human ear and
are not typically used by regular voice traffic.
The most popular versions of DSL are limited to customers
living within about three miles of a phone company central
switching office and offer speeds 50 to 100 times faster than
ordinary modems.
So far, DSL deployment has lagged behind the cable
industry's roll-out of high-speed Internet service over cable
wires. About 250,000 people subscribe to DSL compared to more
than a million cable modem users, according to analysts.
The FCC's order is expected to be adopted at a public
meeting next week but could be delayed at the last minute.
Itwould likely set a price for carriers wanting to split a line
with a major carrier.
Major carriers were seeking a 50-50 split, allowing
competing DSL providers to lease a line for half the charge of
the whole line. Competitors sought a more lopsided split with a
data discount of as much as 90 percent.
REUTERS
Rtr 17:14 11-11-99
Copyright 1999, Reuters News Service
no wonder ,besides earnings, RTHM, COVD, NPNT experienced some major accumulations...
***you got the RTHM ...:-)
2MAR$ |
