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

To: stock_bull69 who wrote (1905)	2/4/1999 6:36:00 PM
From: lml	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 4298

While the immediate effects of the FCC's decision on this issue is "good news" for T, it will remain a thorn for sometime to come, regardless of the merits of the case AOL et al. have made. Kennard is to be commended for standing behind stated policy -- to create competition within along the last mile. T's venture into cable is representative of the competition the cable industry will bring to the last mile, competition that is sorely needed with the RBOCs. Kennard does not wish to kill the goose that laid the golden egg -- the impetus behind the cable internet providers such as ATHM & UMG & the capital investment being made by the cablecos to deliver such access. I'm no expert in this area, but I am of the opinion that AOL's argument is flawed. Every home in America presently has access to AOL via dial-up modem. As DSL extends its penetration to a broader sector of telco customer, AOL will be there. Today its a deal with Bell Atlantic; tomorrow will likely see a similar deal with SBC and GTE. The broadband access is there -- but its over copper. Its unfortunate (for AOL) that they won't enjoy the same degree of dominance over cable as they do over copper. Cable is a different ballgame. Cable does not fall under common carrier rules. Instead AOL must compete for access. But what kind of access is AOL talking about? Does AOL have a right to be a provider of Internet access over cable? Is AOL merely a provider of Internet access? No way. IMHO, AOL, more than anything else is a provider of content. Therefore, if they wish to deliver their content over cable, they merely need to provide a gateway via another Internet provider. Arguably that exists through its "Bring Your Own Access" account. If they are truly talking about access, then why don't they just go out & buy a cableco? There's still plenty of them floating around. Hey, my cableco, Century Communications is on the block? Its expensive. But what the heck, AOL has got plenty of money. Just food for thought, guys. I tend to agree with T's general counsel. AOL is acting like a little spoiled brat here. They have it real good over copper. They just expect the same over HFC. They must realize they're a more a provider of content than of Internet access. If they want their content delivered over cable, they will just have to compete in the marketplace along with the content providers - the broadcast networks & cable channels. JMO.