FCC Eases High-Speed Phone Line Regulation; Bells Ring Praise, but Consumer Advocates Critical of Action
Posted on: Monday, 8 August 2005, 15:00 CDT
WASHINGTON -- Federal regulators unanimously agreed Friday to relax regulations on phone companies' high-speed Internet services, a decision cheered by Bell companies but booed by consumer advocates.
The Federal Communications Commission voted 4-0 to reclassify digital subscriber lines as an "information service" that would be far less regulated that traditional phone service.
The change means the government no longer will require phone companies to lease their highspeed lines at regulated rates to competing Internet service providers such as Atlanta-based EarthLink Inc.
BellSouth vice president Herschel Abbott issued a statement saying FCC Chairman Kevin Martin "should be widely applauded for pushing to completion these sweeping changes."
But Gene Kimmelman, public policy director at Consumers Union, said in a statement the change would drive independent broadband providers out of business and result in higher prices for consumers.
"The Federal Communications Commission continues down the wrong path on deregulation, allowing giant phone companies to tighten their stranglehold on competition, stifle innovation, and reach even deeper into the pockets of consumers," Kimmelman said.
Martin predicted the reduced regulation would spur broadband competition. If so, that could mean more people would have access to broadband Internet and prices could fall.
The decision came after several days of intense negotiations between the FCC's two Democratic members, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, and its two Republicans, Martin and Kathleen Abernathy. The commission's fifth seat is vacant.
Source: Dayton Daily News
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