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Technology Stocks : AT&T -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: oilbabe who wrote (2628)	7/14/1999 7:27:00 AM
From: polarisnh	Respond to of 4298

Florida government votes to open cable lines NEW YORK, July 14 (Reuters) - A Florida county government on Tuesday voted to require cable-TV companies to open their lines to rival Internet-service providers. The decision marked another set back in AT&T'S (NYSE:T - news) plan to offer fast cable access to the net. Broward County/Fort Lauderdale, Fla. commissioners voted 4 to 3 in favour of an ordinance that calls for cable television franchises to provide rival web companies ''such access on rates, terms and conditions at least as favourable as those on which it provides such access to itself.'' Last Spring, Portland, Ore. became the first city to require AT&T, the number one U.S. long distance phone company and number two cable operator, to open access to competing Internet service providers. The telephone company appealed the decision. An AT&T official called Tuesday's decision wrong and bad for public policy. ''It will have the unfortunate effect of discouraging investment in technology that would bring a choice of local telephone providers and high speed Internet access services to the citizens of Broward County,'' Ken McNeely, AT&T vice president of law and government affairs, said in a statement. As part of its recent acquisition of Tele-Communications Inc and MediaOne -- two of the four largest cable companies in the nation -- AT&T must ask local officials to transfer the local cable franchises. In the process, cities and countries can require AT&T to open its network to competitors. Other cities currently considering the issue include Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco. Shares of AT&T closed down at 57-1/16 on the New York Stock Exchange.

To: oilbabe who wrote (2628)	7/14/1999 7:39:00 AM
From: polarisnh	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 4298

oilbabe, I can't imagine it will be very good for AT&T but I think that ATHM will get it worse since AT&T is diversified into other telecom industries. ATHM on the other hand is really the company that this ruling is directed at and if not successfully appealed it be significant. I think that you will see the FCC step in under AT&T pressure to stop this nonsense. If they don't there won't be any incentive for AT&T or other carriers to complete the build out of the CATV infrastructure to support Internet connectivity. That is the last thing that the FCC wants. That is the reason that the FCC will step in and stop this county-by-county or city-by-city ruling baloney. The local governments while wanting to preserve an open architecture are going to shoot the rest of this industry in the foot. It is more important to this country at this point in time to allow big business a 'slight' pricing advantage as a reward for sinking their capital into a massive undertaking like this. Provide reasonable pricing to AOL and other ISPs but you have got to allow the company who is forking over the big investment capital some type of advantage or they won't make the investment at all! Cheers, Steve