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Technology Stocks : LAST MILE TECHNOLOGIES - Let's Discuss Them Here -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Raymond Duray who wrote (6128)	12/5/1999 8:46:00 AM
From: Kenneth E. Phillipps	Respond to of 12823

T will open its cable lines to other companies - specifically, MindSpring. I don't know if this will do anything for the Last Mile but it should relieve some of the pressure on T and provide some cast to T while they continue their buildout. AT&T to Make Internet Access Easier Updated 2:01 AM ET December 5, 1999 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - AT&T Corp. has committed itself to eventually permitting customers of rival Internet services use its cable lines to offer high-speed access to the global computer network, The Washington Post said on Sunday. Citing sources, the newspaper said a specific deal with MindSpring Enterprises Inc., the nation's second largest Internet access provider, will formally commit AT&T to a new "open access" policy. It said AT&T plans on Monday to outline the deal in a letter to Federal Communications Commissioner William E. Kennard and to unveil it at a meeting later that day with Wall Street analysts. AT&T has been criticized since it bought control of more than half the nation's cable lines and declared it would let only its own Internet provider use those lines for at least two years to offer "broadband" service that can handle full-motion video and graphics-intensive Internet content. The Post said the letter to be sent by AT&T to FCC Commissioner Kennard would not amount to a binding business contract but it proclaims agreement on principles of open access that should prevail in future contracts. Open access has become a key debate within the telecommunications world since AT&T set out to become a leader in the next generation of the Internet, the Post said. Now best known as the nation's largest long-distance company, AT&T has recently spent more than $120 billion to reshape itself by buying up the nation's largest collection of cable franchises. AT&T's largest cable purchase, Tele-Communications Inc., carries with it a contract requiring that all high-speed customers connect to the Internet through Excite At Home, which manages AT&T's data network. The Post said that angered consumer advocates who maintained AT&T could use its exclusive arrangement to undermine the free flow of information on the Internet by funneling traffic to preferred customers and impeding traffic elsewhere.