America On-Line: will it survive ...? Message Board

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Technology Stocks : America On-Line: will it survive ...?

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To: yard_man who wrote (9435)	4/9/1998 1:43:00 PM
From: Leeza Rodriguez	Read Replies (1) of 13594

The two most recent speeches by Commissioner Susan Ness are indeed available at the FCC web site. The main issue is that the ISP's have been classified under the jurisdiction of 'enhanced service providers' for many years. This allows them ALL of the privileges of the PSTN (public switched telephone network) with NONE of the obligations that telecommunication carriers have. For example, carriers have to deal with local access fees (payment to the RBOC's for use of the switching facilities) AND have to contribute to the Universal Service Fund. ISP's have NO obligation to do either one of these. On top of all this you have the absolute wild west category of IP telephony. Then you have all kinds of reciprocal compensation arbitrage situations going on with CLEC's and ISPs against the ILEC's. And believe me, this IS going on. I attended an ISP conference two weeks that gave a COURSE instructing ISP's on HOW to arbitrage. Can you say out of control? In short, it's totally zoo-y out there and a little bit of wrist slapping might be totally in order . (No threats please!) I have been following these issues for a couple of years now and I think that the FCC is very aware how potentially disastrous it would be to introduce heavy regulation into the Internet. On the other hand, the situation is getting a bit out of control and ISP's _DO_ use the switching facilities . With data traffic growing MUCH faster than voice, it is time to make the ISP's take on some responsibility. I honestly believe that the FCC is trying to be fair and I do think that they are listening to all sides of the equation. The danger of course is that Regulation of the Internet has the potential to kill this bullmarket if you agree that the future productivity gains of corporate america are based on efficiencies gained via IP . Realize also that there is an incredible lobby on both sides of the fence. The camps have been well established for a few years are are known as the Internet Access Coalition vs. the Telco Camp. My GUESS it that the first report will propose to NOT levy local access fees on ISP's, but that it WILL mandate ISP's to contribute to the USF. Also, I would not be surprised to see some incentive offered to encourage advanced local loop technologies like xDSL. Stay tuned. And you can be sure that the market will have a reaction, one way or the other. Leeza Rodriguez

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