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

To: justone who wrote (8530)	9/19/2000 10:48:44 AM
From: justone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

The house will very likely pass the bill to cut reciprocal phone fees. It seems to me the ISP will lose the money they get each dial up internet call. Thus they will have more trouble making money on dial up, and thus there is even more pressure to go broadband, since it becomes more competitive as dial up fees will increase or ISPs leave the business. It may also be the end of the 'free' ISP movement. The growth in dial-up modem equipment sales may halt well before saturation. In addition, a lot of the growth in CO equipment and Tandem equipment has been to handle dial-up traffic. Reciprocal compensation really annoys the ILECS not only because they have to pay billions in fees, but if you add a second phone line to get internet access, they have to add more equipment and only get the second line fee. This is not good news for Lucent and NT as well. But given the speed of politics, this could take another year. dailynews.yahoo.com Monday September 18 10:58 PM ET Panel Approves Bill to Cut Reciprocal Phone Fee WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. House panel on Monday approved a measure that could eliminate billions of dollars in fees large regional telephone companies pay annually to carry consumer Internet traffic. The House Commerce subcommittee on telecommunications approved by voice vote a bill that would eliminate a charge one phone company must pay to terminate a call on another company's network, including Internet traffic which is not often returned. ING Barings analysts recently estimated that big regional telephone companies like SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE:SBC - news) together spend roughly $4 billion annually paying fees that are not reciprocated. The measure ``corrects an unintended consequence of the '96 Telecom Act that harms consumers by placing a tollbooth to the Internet and reduces competition in the local exchange market,'' Gary Lytle, interim head of the U.S. Telecommunications Association, said in a statement. `` But Consumers Union and the Consumer Federation of America have argued that elimination of the payments would in effect raise the cost to many of the new, competing phone companies that handle Internet dial-up calls. The measure's immediate future is uncertain because Congress is set to adjourn in less than three weeks so lawmakers have time to campaign for reelection and the bill must still be considered by the full Commerce Committee and the House of Representatives as well as the Senate.