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Strategies & Market Trends : Sharck Soup

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To: Jim Spitz who wrote (36310)	10/3/2001 7:57:47 AM
From: Jim Spitz	Read Replies (1) of 37746

Court's answer in Internet dispute could affect online service Associated Press Published Oct 3 2001 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Supreme Court is examining a complex Internet case that could eventually affect the availability of online services and what most people pay for them. The court is expected to rule by summer on a fight over the cost of establishing and maintaining some Internet and wireless networks. Specifically, the fight concerns rent that cable television companies must pay utilities to attach wires for high-speed Internet service to the utilities' poles, and whether the Federal Communications Commission can control the rate. The justices also will consider whether cellular telephone companies are entitled to pay government-limited rates for attaching their equipment to utility poles. The case is one of three the court will hear this fall that deal with lingering questions from a 1996 congressional overhaul of the nation's telecommunications laws. A federal appeals panel ruled last year that the FCC does not have the authority to regulate pole rental rates for Internet service. The FCC claims Congress intended it to have that power. In arguments Tuesday, several justices focused on a basic question posed by the federal government and cable companies: If Congress wanted to increase competition and make Internet service more widely available by inviting cable companies to go head-to-head with phone companies in the Internet service market, why would it have let utilities jack up the rent for pole use? The industry has not calculated the cost of higher rates nationwide, but the estimate is in the billions of dollars. For the cable customer, that could mean an extra $1.50 or so on each monthly bill, said a spokesman for the National Cable and Telecommunications Association. © Copyright 2001 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.

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