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Eric Glick
The cable industry has vowed to fight a new lobbying organization that's trying to get laws on the books forcing MSO-backed Internet Service Providers to open their networks to competitors.
Last week, a group of ISPs, including America Online Inc., US West and MCI Worldcom, announced their group - the OpenNET Coalition - would seek legislation to open such networks.
The National Cable Television Association, which represents MSOs on Capitol Hill and before the FCC, reacted coolly to the coalition's formation.
"We never cease to be amazed by AOL's chutzpah and its tired old 'regulate your competitor' approach," Decker Anstrom, NCTA's president-CEO said in a statement.
"All this from a company that currently dominates the Internet marketplace with 15 million customers (and) has a market capitalization of $76.7 billion," Anstrom added.
The coalition has a couple of big names heading it up. At the helm is Greg Simon, who was an advisor to Vice President Al Gore on telecommunications issues. Rounding off the bipartisan group is Rich Bond, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Even with such heavy hitters though, it's not clear what kind of reception OpenNET will get on Capitol Hill, where several key lawmakers have indicated they prefer a hands-off policy when it comes to the Internet.
OpenNET said at a press conference Feb. 3 that it's necessary to pursue legislation since it appears the FCC has punted on open access issues, at least for now. Two weeks ago, the commission issued a report saying it won't require cable operators to open their high-speed networks to competitors.
But lawmakers seem chilly to the idea of forcing any type of access on ISPs, whether they're cable-backed or not. Last week, Ken Johnson, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.) who chairs the House Telecommunications ubcommittee, said that his boss isn't all ears to ISPs looking for open access.
"Our advice to the OpenNET coalition is to be careful what you wish for," Johnson said. "You just might get it."
"If Congress - as the coalition wants - begins to regulate the cable industry when it comes to high-speed data, then what's going to keep Congress from regulating all other aspects of the Internet?" Johnson said. "It's a dangerous precedent to begin."
The FCC report to Congress studied whether all Americans have access to online services "on a reasonable and timely basis." It concluded that there are more people online now than there were telephone subscribers or audiences for television when those two services were in their nascent stages.
At least one FCC commissioner voiced opposition to the idea of forcing access to cable operators' Internet wires. Michael Powell, a Republican commissioner, urged his fellow commissioners and the likes of AOL to "be cautious about early cries of mandatory access," which he said "come at a great cost to innovation."
Still, the coalition's Simon warned that cable could act as a "the Internet gatekeeper" without some regulations on the books forcing them to open their lines.
Simon also said in Communications Daily that waiting to see how cable treats its competitors "is like waiting to see how Godzilla will treat Tokyo." What's more, he asserted that cable operators are attempting to arrange "exclusive deals with their own Internet Service Providers so there's no competition in Internet access."
For his part, Anstrom seemed sanguine, saying, "There really is nothing new here. This is the AOL coalition that urged the FCC to impose common carrier regulations on cable's new high-speed facilities and services."
Anstrom also said that if the OpenNET Coalition succeeds, it "would surely slow broadband deployment."
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