Howdy gang !
Remember those dirt-clod fights way back as a youngster. If you had enough cronies in the neighborhood, those fights were generally divided up into 3 or more (pecking-order groups), which also depended on the size of the new housing addition, or commercial site that left you firing-behind bantam mounds of dry mud.
Your stronghold was central to the others, but the razor-sharp hurlers would "wait-watch & then launch", based on the other's firing patterns. As a pack, we would set there determined to pounce upon the strongest, which at any given time could show them as the weakest.
The Belated Next-Gen-Telco "AT&T" finds itself in just such a position, building a end-to-end network, avoiding expensive local-access charges, therefore excavating enough dirt-clods to cover 50% of the entire US of A.
Question: From a local competition standpoint, is AT&T going to be considered one of the good guys, the new divinity-at&t telephony-ing over the likes of TCI, TWX, and looking to covenant their IP-Success into target-markets of Cox, Media One Group and a Comcast of others?
Given T's direction, clearly, this is new ground for telephony, and a huge shot across the bow of the local RBOC's, and a potential inflection point for Internet access as well. It almost hit me in the wham, face!, that there may NOW be light down the end of that tunnel, leading to release the ILECs, from their local-lockup.
Bytheway, how are the ILECs going to offset this revenue loss., are they going to claim that cable-vs-wire should fall under the same jurisdiction in regulations? I say not anytime soon, even if they cry wolf, hog wash guys, go slap someone else's face cause I ain't gonna wake up to that yet.
Is Judge Harold Greene, who busted up AT&T into a bunch of Bells, busting his head against the wall? I don't think so, it could be a blessing for us all down the road. Then too, since the FCC has decided to PUNT on issues as of late, maybe its in the best interest of all, for the FCC to them to allow a few more dirt-clod fights, before stepping in.
But what's going to happen if AT&T's starts to look like a cable company operator, and they release bandwidth, just like the ILEC's? How is that going to be regulated, how is this going to be fair in comparison to what the RBOCs pay out to other providers?
How are the ILECs going to succeed in an attempt to control their monopoly share in the local markets. I'm not sure, but after seeing a charge of 35cents for a local payphone call with a three-minute limit by a local RBOC, and when making a long distance call they want your .50cents, it is very disheartening.
One other thing in addition to AT&T's local and long-distance phone service, this that this new venture will also offer interactive digital television and high-speed Internet service. All this at prices that I've heard, will be about 20% less than a current local phone bill, and even further reductions compared to other competing Internet telephony service's.
So as a DSL advocate, I think we need larger dirt-clods, more kid like idea's, if ADSL is to have a chance in the local market.
It's no wonder the FCC has waited, prolonged, and set aside any set rules while the industry shifts like a California earth quake, but you can only shake for just so long. If I didn't know any better, I'd say the Fed's need a separate E-FCC-Branch full of today's-internet-yuppies just to keep pace.
In closing, today's argument seems to have many folds in an every increasing and expanding blanket.
1. How to regulate cable access to other possible vendors, i.e. the AOL's of the world?
2. What will be the capacities of fat-cable in regards to bandwidth, and who's regulating?
3. Are copper and cable of equal trade when it comes to bandwidth?
So the ISPs had better get in a big hurry if they are going to out "bundle" the likes of AT&T.
Coming to a neighborhood near you>
"cable-ip-payphones falling from the sky and charging less than a dime".
Oh my, the FCC is going to have more fun this next year, than prior years leading from the Act-of -96.
More news daily "Temp"
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