SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 25 (Reuters) - San Francisco's Telecommunications Commission has voted
to delay implementation of any ``open access' for high speed Internet access through the city's cable
systems until 2003, AT&T Corp (NYSE:T - news) said Tuesday.
The commission's vote, taken Monday, now goes to the city's Board of Supervisors for final approval at a future meeting, which has not yet been
scheduled.
The vote marked another victory for AT&T, which has led the drive to block new regulations requiring cable companies to share their lines with
Internet providers -- who would then have the ability to offer high-speed access to the World Wide Web and a variety of new features
unavailable over common phone lines, most notably video.
``AT&T remains committed to the principal that government-mandated forced access is unwarranted and unnecessary,' Lois Hedg-peth, AT&T's
president, Pacific region, said in a statement Tuesday.
``We're hopeful that the Board of Supervisors will agree that the marketplace is providing new alternatives for Internet access every day and that
a forced access ordinance is both unnecessary and unwise.'
The news out of San Francisco came as both sides in the debate over open access awaited to hear the result of an appeal of a court decision
which required AT&T to share its cables with Internet companies in Portland, Ore.
That case is currently before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which is expected to rule soon on whether local governments
have the authority to require open access in cable systems.
Last year, AT&T scored a victory in Seattle as that city postponed any new regulations requiring it to open access to its cable modem system
there until this year at the earliest.
(Andrew Quinn, San Francisco bureau(, 415-677-2541) |
