| AT&T/TCI And High-Speed Internet Access Consumer
groups, national and local ISPs, the Department of Justice, the FCC, Congress - these
groups are all focusing their attention on the West Coast, but for a change people are
looking at Oregon, rather than Silicon Valley. For it is in Oregon that the city of
Portland (through the Mount Hood Cable Regulatory
Commission) has thrust out its neck and denied the transfer of local cable franchise
licenses from TCI to AT&T
unless the two companies promise to provide open access to their high-speed cable network
for all local ISPs.
AT&T has refused to meet this condition, and they have openly challenged the city's
jurisdiction over such issues. The final result of this action is yet to be determined,
but Portland officials may almost single-handedly be responsible for pushing the Federal Communications Commission to make what could be a
landmark decision when it comes to broadband Internet access.
There are all kinds of issues involved here - too many to be resolved in a single
column - but at the heart of the matter are several key questions: 1) is Internet access
over cable a cable service, a telecommunications service, or something else altogether; 2)
do municipal legislative bodies have authority over cable franchises when they seek to
provide Internet access, or is that the realm of the FCC; and 3) is competition in the
cable marketplace strong enough to ensure fair rates and quality service for the majority
of consumers? But perhaps we can shrink even this list of questions. At the heart of the
matter there seems to be one pressing issue: How do you define competition?
AT&T/TCI seem to define competition as the process of offering a new or better
service to an already established market - i.e., providing high-speed Internet access
through existing cable lines. AT&T's position is that this increased speed is
providing competition to the market, since consumers will still be able to choose their
old dial-up accounts if they prefer. AT&T's business strategy (if we believe what they
are saying publicly) requires the income from TCI's @Home service to justify building out
their infrastructure to accommodate high-speed access to the Internet. If we think of
Internet access as a roadway, then AT&T's argument might be that you can choose to buy
a sports car or a beat-up old station wagon - the decision is the consumer's, and that
means the market is competitive.
On the other hand, AOL, Mindspring, Qwest
Communications, and other ISPs and telecommunications carriers insist that competition
means equal access to network capacity; i.e., the network capacity itself becomes a
commodity, and providers are distinguished not by access speed, but by other features,
such as content and customer service. These individual ISPs argue that they should be able
to make the most of the high-speed network that AT&T/TCI plan to build out and
maintain. To develop the roadway metaphor, these groups might suggest that AT&T's idea
of competition is something like saying that the various bicycle manufacturers provide a
competitive alternative to the big automakers in Detroit. After all, people can still
choose to buy bikes!
In between these two special interest groups, and sometimes seemingly kicked about like
a ball in a rugby match, is the FCC. Representative W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (R.-La.)
has described the FCC as "a horse-and-buggy agency trying to bridle a supersonic
technology," and whatever you think of Tauzin, he may in fact be right. But in this
era of mega-mergers and billion-dollar acquisitions, is a loosely defined sense of
"competition" likely to do any better?
This is why Portland's decision to deny license transfer to AT&T is so important.
The FCC has been considering this issue of cable access, and has stated their intention to
rule on it in the next 18-24 months. What the Portland officials have done is essentially
told the FCC to hurry up. AT&T/TCI are challenging the city's right to rule on this
particular issue, and the clamor for FCC involvement is growing stronger.
FCC commissioners are responsible for keeping track of and regulating the many faces of
"communications" in the United States today. Both the telecommunications market
and the demand for faster Internet access have increased at a breakneck pace, and it is
really no surprise that the FCC is having trouble keeping up. The decision regarding
competition and broadband Internet access - whether it is decided through a specific
ruling in the AT&T/TCI case or whether it is postponed to allow more time for
consideration - is one that crosses many industries and redefines
"telecommunications" as we have come to know it. Other municipalities, including
Dallas and Denver, are also consider franchise license transfers, and persons living in
these areas may wish to contact their local legislators and make their opinions known.
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