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Sue Ashdown is executive director of the American Internet Service Providers Association, a Washington, D.C.-based national advocacy organization made up of independent ISPs from across the country.
When the Telecommunications Act was signed into law five years ago, it represented the rare joining of politics and technology. Many people in the high-tech world remember it because the presidential signature that officially made this Act the law of the land was transmitted electronically from pen to screen in a historic ceremony at the Library of Congress.
Those of us who work in the technology industry hailed the law because it would officially break the monopoly in the local telephone service market--or so we thought. Indeed, many of the telecommunications and Internet companies around today owe their existence in large measure to the environment created by this law. There are nearly 7,000 independent ISPs that average around 1,000 customers each and thousands of Internet-dependent companies in the United States that supply and benefit from competitive telecommunications services. Millions of American consumers in turn benefit from the success, innovation and personal customer service of these entrepreneurial companies.
But now the competitive environment ushered in by the Telecom Act is itself threatened by the power of the incumbent local telephone companies, which the Act sought to corral for the benefit of consumers. We face the prospect of a re-monopolization of many aspects of the telecommunications marketplace because of the increasing concentration of power in the hands of the local telephone companies.
As readers of this publication already know, many customers of ISPs rely on DSL connections to reach their preferred Internet service provider. But those customers often face roadblocks created by the Bell companies when they seek to obtain DSL service. By charging high prices and denying competing Internet companies efficient access to the Bell's local networks, the Bell companies are undermining competition and moving us back in the direction of a monopoly--this time a monopoly in DSL service. The Bells now control a substantial portion of the DSL high-speed Internet service market. And that could go markedly higher given the realities of the marketplace today. For example, they routinely connect their own DSL customers in a matter of days, but often take weeks to connect customers of their competitors, thus crippling competition. The companies that support AISPA unfortunately encounter these types of delays on a daily basis.
In the face of this treatment from the Bell companies, how are their competitors faring? Some are fighting back successfully, others not so successfully. During the month of December alone four broadband ISPs--Flashcom Communications, Zyan Communications, Relay Point and FastPoint--filed for bankruptcy. Would-be national provider NorthPoint filed for Chapter 11 protection in January. In the past year, Rhythms, Covad and NorthPoint, the Bells' three leading DSL competitors, have seen their stock price drop by 95 percent.
All these facts point toward an unsettling trend of re-monopolization in the telecommunications marketplace. But it need not be so. If we play our cards right, politics and technology can again combine to make sure that Americans receive all the benefits of the Information Age. What are needed are sound public policies to stop the re-monopolization of telecommunications and allow competition to flourish in the deployment of broadband services. Otherwise, we run the risk of making the Telecom Act look like nothing more than just another of the many historic relics also associated with the Library of Congress. And that would be a pity.
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