Oct, 2001 : California ISP Coalition Breaks Settlement Talks with SBC
📅 - The California ISP Association (cispa.org) announced yesterday it has broken off settlement talks with Pacific Bell and its parent SBC Communications (sbc.com) about the company's alleged unfair business practices in the high-speed Internet access market.
Based on a Federal Communications Commission filing Wednesday by theTexas-based telephone company, CISPA said it will refocus its efforts onpursuing the original complaint against SBC, filed on July 26, before theCalifornia Public Utilities Commission. The CISPA complaint seeks to ensurewhat it calls "a truly competitive market" in providing high-speed Internetservices to California consumers and small businesses.
CISPA, which represents more than 100 Internet service providers inCalifornia, including EarthLink, said SBC's filing makes it clear that themonopoly telephone company has no intention of modifying itsanti-competitive practices in California. According to Jon Washburn,president of CISPA, SBC wants to deny CISPA members and other independentISPs the right to wholesale DSL services. CISPA members use DSL to serveconsumers and small businesses, many of whom would lose service if the FCCwere to approve the SBC request.
In its filing Wednesday, SBC - which has captured more than 80 percent ofthe residential DSL market in California - claimed it is not the dominantcarrier in its market.
"This is another attempt by the nation's largest phone company to extend itstelephone monopoly into a monopoly over Internet access," said Jon Washburn,president of CISPA. "If SBC succeeds in its grand plan to force independentISPs out of the DSL business, consumers and small businesses will end uppaying millions of dollars more due to a lack of competition. SBC's filingwith the FCC is anti-competitive and anti-consumer."
CISPA says that SBC's most recent filing comes at a time when SBC is alsoasking the California PUC to allow it to enter the state's $15 billion longdistance market, which requires proof that SBC's control over California'stelephone facilities properly supports competition among service providers,including Pacific Bell's Internet subsidiary and independent ISPs. CISPA'scomplaint claims that the opposite is true.
For several years, independent ISPs in California and other stateswhere SBCowns the local phone network have complained that SBC has deliberatelyprovided slower DSL service to independent ISPs in order to capture the DSLmarket for SBC.
On July 26, CISPA filed a formal complaint with the California PUC outliningpolicies, anti-competitive conduct and contract terms that give an unfairadvantage to Pacific Bell Internet and related companies owned by itsparent, SBC Communications Inc.
Based on a Federal Communications Commission filing Wednesday by theTexas-based telephone company, CISPA said it will refocus its efforts onpursuing the original complaint against SBC, filed on July 26, before theCalifornia Public Utilities Commission. The CISPA complaint seeks to ensurewhat it calls "a truly competitive market" in providing high-speed Internetservices to California consumers and small businesses.
CISPA, which represents more than 100 Internet service providers inCalifornia, including EarthLink, said SBC's filing makes it clear that themonopoly telephone company has no intention of modifying itsanti-competitive practices in California. According to Jon Washburn,president of CISPA, SBC wants to deny CISPA members and other independentISPs the right to wholesale DSL services. CISPA members use DSL to serveconsumers and small businesses, many of whom would lose service if the FCCwere to approve the SBC request.
In its filing Wednesday, SBC - which has captured more than 80 percent ofthe residential DSL market in California - claimed it is not the dominantcarrier in its market.
"This is another attempt by the nation's largest phone company to extend itstelephone monopoly into a monopoly over Internet access," said Jon Washburn,president of CISPA. "If SBC succeeds in its grand plan to force independentISPs out of the DSL business, consumers and small businesses will end uppaying millions of dollars more due to a lack of competition. SBC's filingwith the FCC is anti-competitive and anti-consumer."
CISPA says that SBC's most recent filing comes at a time when SBC is alsoasking the California PUC to allow it to enter the state's $15 billion longdistance market, which requires proof that SBC's control over California'stelephone facilities properly supports competition among service providers,including Pacific Bell's Internet subsidiary and independent ISPs. CISPA'scomplaint claims that the opposite is true.
For several years, independent ISPs in California and other stateswhere SBCowns the local phone network have complained that SBC has deliberatelyprovided slower DSL service to independent ISPs in order to capture the DSLmarket for SBC.
On July 26, CISPA filed a formal complaint with the California PUC outliningpolicies, anti-competitive conduct and contract terms that give an unfairadvantage to Pacific Bell Internet and related companies owned by itsparent, SBC Communications Inc.
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