[NYT: FCC near decision on consumer Internet access]
<Borrowed from the QWest thread>
If the Baby Bells can build new data networks without granting access to other carriers, it might mean lots of business for data network companies like Bay and telecom companies like Nortel.
NEW YORK, July 17 (Reuters) - The Federal Communications Commission, moving
to accelerate the delivery of high-speed Internet access to American consumers, is close
to recommending big local telephone companies be allowed to build data systems
without having to resell their use to competitors, the Wall Street Journal reported
Friday.
The recommendation could come as soon as Friday, Federal Communications
Commission officials told the newspaper Thursday.
If adopted, the plan would represent the FCC's biggest move in favor of the Bell local
telephone companies since the telecommunications laws were overhauled in 1996.
For the first time since the act was enacted, the Bells would be allowed to expand their
networks without having to resell their systems to other telecommunications carriers.
William Kennard, the FCC chairman, supports the plan, which is likely to draw waves
of protest from the nation's big long-distance carriers and from new local phone
companies, the newspaper said.
The full commission could issue a proposal next month, but the battle over the plan is
likely to spill into next year before final rules are adopted.
The act says that incumbent local phone carriers, including the Bell companies and GTE
Corp, must resell parts of their networks to competitors.
The Bells have said that the resale provision could keep them from investing to upgrade
their networks for high-speed data services because they would have to resell the new
technology at wholesale prices.
Under the plan, the Bells would be allowed to set up data services subsidiaries that
could then build the high-speed systems. The subsidiaries would not have to resell their
operations to competitors, the newspaper reported.
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