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

To: Ram Seetharaman who wrote (35673)	12/21/1999 2:20:00 PM
From: Tecinvestor	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 41369

Ram, I don't think it's that simple. What about high speed internet access? Will that be free, as well? I hardly think so. If everyone will eventually have high speed access I would assume that the high speed access provider, who will be deriving a fee for the service, will have to fork over a significant percentage of that fee to the ISP in return for the privilege of servicing the ISP's customer base. I haven't a clue what the economies of such an arrangement might be, but it may be more lucrative for a company like AOL to relinquish its subscriber fee in exchange for a percentage of the high speed access fee. I don't think there's any question that if AOL offered free internet access its membership would increase. That larger customer base translates into bigger dollars derived from e-commerce since, presumably, the price AOL is able to charge for advertising is dependent upon the size of its subscriber base. Bottom line, free interent access may not be a bad thing. I think it depends upon just how lucrative these e-commerce deals are to a company like AOL. My gut reaction is that these deals will be quite lucrative. Tecinvestor