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To: Siber who wrote (19616)	6/7/1999 3:45:00 PM
From: allen v.w.	Respond to of 40688

You are very welcome Helene! lol!!!!! Our overseas friends fight for lower rates for internet access. Good for them and the rest of the world! European Net Strikers Dig In by Heather McCabe 9:15 a.m. 7.Jun.99.PDT PARIS -- The organizers of history's largest Internet boycott said it will take more than a slight drop in revenues for phone companies to implement flat-rate access. In a continent-wide protest against metered Internet access, close to one million Europeans on Sunday switched off their modems and left their phones on the hook, the strike's backers said. "We don't forget that our actions -- and overall this big European boycott -- have overall one aim: to [distribute] the awareness of our problems and to shake up our parliament, government, and Telecom Italia about the importance of Internet for the Italian culture and economy," said Paolo Graziani, spokesman for Notut, the Italian group behind the movement. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- See also: Europeans Try New Telco Boycott -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Others declared victory. "It's been a success," said Pilar Gias of Spain's Asociación de Internautas, which used the Web traffic analysis software NedStat to survey more than 10,000 Spanish Web pages to estimate the nation's level of participation in the strike. "We think it's a very important percentage of participation, and this time the results have been audited by an independent company, not the strikers or the telecoms." Activists in 14 European countries participated in Sunday's protest. They called for the introduction of flat-rate charges, the abolition of a minimum call charge for any remaining metered calls, and quicker introduction of xDSL, cable modems, and satellite access. Protesters also demanded that the costs of all telephone calls conform to European Union law, which requires prices to mirror the independently audited costs to telecommunications operators. Although not all of the European groups had gathered their statistics by midday Monday, organizers released some estimates: 10,000 participants in Italy, 18,000 in Sweden, and 760,000 in Spain -- or 38 percent of Spanish Net users. Internet service providers and some phone companies that monitored the strike said they would release their own results late Monday. Gias said that Spain's high level of participation reflected the high social influence and maturity of Spanish Internet users. "The participation in this strike also reflects the discomfort about the communications campaigns made by the Spanish government and [Spanish telco] Telefonica, because the discounts are not enough, and we haven't had a real flat rate," said Gias. It is unclear whether or not Sunday's boycott -- the latest and most widespread of a series of such so-called Internet strikes -- will move telecos to institute flat-rate fees. But the issue is now on the tables of lawmakers in most of the participating countries. On Wednesday, Britain's House of Commons is scheduled to hear a debate on telecommunications pricing led by Liberal Steven Webb. His bill would require the Office of Telecommunications, the nation's telecom regulations authority, to ask all phone companies to offer unmetered access. "The British government's line right now is to leave it to the communications companies to provide the service," Webb said. "They say that it people want a flat rate, the companies will provide it. My worry is that nothing will happen." Several other European governments have pledged their support for flat-rate pricing. Parliament members in Italy, France, and Greece have discussed lower pricing plans. Some European telecoms, meanwhile, are inching towards flat rates. Last week British Telecom announced a flat-rate service active on weekends. And France Télécom recently proposed a forfeit of 20 hours for the equivalent of US$15.83, an amount that must be approved by the nation's Telecom Regulations Authority. In Sweden, the government agency that regulates telecoms is in the process of investigating potential unfair pricing policies. "We have this so-called monopoly in Sweden," said Peter Hollandare, an organizer of the Swedish protest. "What we need is other companies to be connected to the lines. In the US, the monopoly was forced to sell off lines. In Sweden they are starting to talk about it." Boycotters also have gained a strong corporate ally in AOL, which late last week endorsed the boycott. "These grassroots movements are important, but there obviously has to be a change at the regulatory and government level," said Maggie Gallant, a spokeswoman for AOL Europe. "That's not going to happen overnight. This has to be taken to the capitols and to Brussels." Related Wired Links: Striking for Cheaper Phone Rates 7.Jun.99 Europeans Try New Telco Boycott