Re: Re: Opposing Bells

[Audrie Krause <audrie@netaction.org>]

AOL is also fronting for the Bells and GTE in San Francisco, with the same
demand that AT&T be forced to lease space on its broad band cable network
to its competitors.  AOL is the number one "gatekeeper" among ISPs, so its
call for "open access" has more than a tinge of hypocrisy.  Nevertheless,
AOL is being used by the Bells and GTE to deflect attention from the fact
that they haven't opened their networks in compliance with the
Telecommunications Act of 1996.

If the local monopolies unbundled their networks, there would be plenty of
competitive choices in high-speed Internet service over the phone network
by now.  Cable would just be one more option, as wireless will be some day.
And if the cable companies had spent the past 50 years forcing ratepayers
to finance their capital improvements instead of asking their investors to
do so, I might be inclined to overlook AOL's hypocrisy.  But it's the Bells
and GTE, not the cable companies, that ought to be opening their networks.
After all, we paid for 'em.

Lee Selwyn has an excellent report on competition in broadband deployment,
which is on the web at: <http://www.alts.org/selwynstudy.pdf>.  When the
Bells and GTE are on one side of a power struggle and AT&T is on the other,
deciding which is the lesser evil is a no-brainer, IMHO.

Audrie Krause

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