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Microcap & Penny Stocks : XSNI - X-Stream Network -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: donkeyman who wrote (655)	5/15/1999 2:05:00 PM
From: UPTICK	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3519

XSNI- FREE INTERNET ACCESS...CONGRESS TRYING TO PASS A BILL !! McCain Seeks to Build Regulation-Free Internet May 14, 1999 By Patricia Fusco InternetNews.com Assistant Editor ISP News Archives Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican and chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, this week introduced the Internet Regulatory Freedom Act of 1999. McCain believes that congressional assurances of no Internet regulation will help promote the development and deployment of advanced telecommunication services nationwide. "Advanced telecommunications is a critical component of our economic and social well-being. Information technology now accounts for over one-third of our economic growth." McCain added that "Americans with access to high-speed Internet service will get the best of what the Internet has to offer in the way of on-line commerce, advanced interactive educational services, tele-medicine, tele-commuting, and video-on-demand. But what it also means is that Americans who don't have access to high-speed Internet service won't enjoy these same advantages. The Arizona senator believes the "Information Age of telecommunications can serve as a great equalizer, eliminating the disadvantages of geographic isolation and socioeconomic status that have carried over from the Industrial Age." According to McCain only 2 percent of all American homes are served by networks capable of providing high-speed data service and that of those U.S. homes, much of the broadband access is provided by cable services. "If this situation is allowed to continue, many Americans who live in remote areas or who don't make a lot of money won't get high-speed Internet service anywhere near as fast as others will." Seeking to eliminate the potential to create a U.S. Internet access strata of "haves" and "have nots," McCain's Internet Regulatory Freedom Act is designed to eliminate social inequalities of broadband Internet access. McCain noted that local telephone company lines go to almost every home in America and that local telephone companies are ready and willing to upgrade existing copper lines to provide advanced high-speed data services. The senator contents that telephone companies are not able to offer broadband services as quickly as cable companies are, because telephone companies operate under unnecessary legal and regulatory restrictions. "The 1996 Telecommunications Act effectively nationalized telephone industry competition. The act has been a complete and utter failure insofar as most Americans are concerned. All the average consumer has gotten are higher prices for many existing services, with little or no new competitive offerings." "We must not let this misguided law produce the same misbegotten results when it comes to making high-speed data services available and affordable to all Americans." McCain said cable companies posses an advantage in deployment of advanced Internet services because they can roll out cable modem access quickly in a regulation-free environment, while federal regulation significantly impedes the ability of telephone companies to do the same. "This is blatantly unfair to the telephone companies. The benefits of business development, employment, and economic growth will go where the advanced data networks go. If these benefits go to urbanized, high-income areas first, the resulting disparities may well be difficult, if not impossible, to equalize." McCain believes that "unfettered competition, not federal regulatory micro-management, is the best way of making sure that high-speed data services will be widely available and affordable." McCain emphatically stated unrestrained competition to deploy advanced telecommunications services is "what I want, what consumers deserve, and what this legislation will do." After a career in the U.S. Navy and two terms as a congressman, John McCain is currently serving his third term in the U.S. Senate.

To: donkeyman who wrote (655)	5/15/1999 2:28:00 PM
From: UPTICK	Respond to of 3519

OTHER GOOD NEWS FOR XSNI.... The digital economy goes global By Derek Reisfield, CBS MarketWatch Last Update: 6:22 PM ET May 12, 1999 Media Report NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- The digital economy is going global. The first major stop on the world tour is Europe, especially the U.K. The economics of international expansion are dramatically different from the traditional, physical world. The best sign of this is the more than $5 billion Microsoft has invested during the last six months on U.K. digital broadband platforms. The folks in Seattle are investing a couple billion in Cable and Wireless' residential network according to industry rumors. Microsoft (MSFT: news, msgs) also invested in Telewest as part of the ATT, Comcast, Media One fracas. In addition, Microsoft invest $500 million for a small stake in NTL, Inc. The U.K. cable industry is on a roll. The last 12 months have been a period of consolidation and growth. Although the U.K. cable industry got off to a late start, it generally has a more modern infrastructure than its U.S. brethren. Satellite multichannel services, such as British Sky Broadcasting, still have 60 percent of multichannel households. But that is down considerably from 70 percent two years ago. Also B Sky B has some deep pocketed owners, such as News Corporation and Pearson. Today on CBS MarketWatch Anxious investors await Fed meeting Star Wars could put an extra $100 million into Fox coffers Economists say Fed unlikely to raise rates Tuesday Keebler, H-P, and K-Tel are among stocks to watch AOL to convene investor powwow More top stories... CBS MarketWatch Columns Updated: 5/15/99 12:07:06 PM ET They are not to be underestimated. Murdoch's planned purchase of the premier British soccer team, Manchester United, would have set off an expensive programming war. However the acquisition was blocked by the U.K. regulatory authorities. I bet Rupert Murdoch wishes Maggie Thatcher was still in office. However, B Sky B is fighting more aggressively with pricing and marketing. Long run, though, the U.K. cable operators have the ability and advantage of bundling cable, telephone and Internet services. In addition, they have developed additional assets which may produce considerable upside. The Tower For example, NTL owns a national broadcast transmission infrastructure. This "Tower" business is very attractive and may be spun out to shareholders or sold. The "Tower" business is one of the hottest sectors in the U.S. American Tower Systems and other stocks appreciated dramatically over the last year. The demand for cellular phones is increasing in the U.K., so NTL Transmission business is benefiting from increased demand. The other clear signal that the digital world is moving to Europe is Sportsline U.S.A's announcement yesterday of the formation of Sportsline Europe. Over the last year or two Sportsline has quietly built several interesting businesses internationally, Golfweb Japan, Crick Info, and Soccer Net being the best examples. Sportsline is partnering with Reuters in this effort. Other major Internet players have also been moving aggressively on the international front. All the portals: Yahoo, Lycos, Excite are over there. The eCommerce folks have already landed, Amazon for example. And the equity traders; Etrade and Schwab have major businesses. The economics of international expansion are dramatically different from the traditional, physical world. The cultural issues are not. So it will be interesting to see how this all plays out. The one thing you can be sure of is that there will be a dramatic increase in cross border digital deals in the future.