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Technology Stocks : America On-Line (AOL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maverick who wrote (22371)	6/15/1999 1:03:00 PM
From: Roy F	Respond to of 41369

German regulator to rule on Internet rate dispute June 15, 1999 12:34 PM FRANKFURT, June 15 (Reuters) - Germany's telecommunications regulator on Wednesday is expected to render a decision that could help America Online Inc AOL and other Internet access companies compete with Deutsche Telekom AG . The Regulating Authority for Telecommunications and Post has scheduled a news conference for 0900 GMT to present a ruling after considering complaints from Telekom rivals that the phone company's T-Online service gets preferential connection rates. AOL's German unit and seven other Internet access providers in March appealed to RTP chief Klaus-Dieter Scheurle, complaining that Telekom was giving T-Online an "unjust advantage" by charging them higher phone rates. T-Online users pay three pfennigs per minute for access to the service plus three pfennigs per minute for the local phone charges. Users of other Internet services pay up to eight pfennigs a minute in local phone charges alone. "The high prices of former state monopolies are a rip-off for the customer that is holding back the natural development of the European market," Andreas Schmidt, president of AOL Europe, said last month. AOL Germany is testing a variety of new pricing models to reduce the cost of Internet access, said spokesman Frank Sarfeld. It aims to offer a flat monthly rate for AOL access but does not want its customers to pay higher local phone charges than T-Online users. Internet access is more expensive in Europe than in the United States where users pay a flat rate for unlimited surfing, with no per-minute phone charges. AOL has 19 million customers worldwide and dominates the U.S. market, but has struggled elsewhere. AOL Europe, a joint venture of AOL and German media giant Bertelsmann AG , has 2.8 million users, including almost one million in Germany. T-Online, with more than three million users, is Europe's largest online access provider. ((Neal Boudette, Frankfurt Newsroom +49 69 756525, frankfurt.newsroom@reuters.com)) REUTERS