Oct, 2001 : AOL Signs Deals With Three Regional ISPs
📅 - Continuing its nationwide rollout of cable services, AOL Time Warner (aoltimewarner.com) has signed three new agreements to give regional ISPs access to Time Warner's cable's networks.
The contracts are with New York's Connect.Net, which serves the New YorkCity metro area; Internet Junction Group, serving Tampa and central Florida;and South Texas Internet Connections, which serves Houston, San Antonio, andAustin. AOL submitted the applications last week to the Federal TradeCommission for approval.
Since December, AOL Time Warner has attempted to pick up non-affiliatedregional ISP partners in order to meet an FTC provision on the AOL-TimeWarner merger. The provision states that AOL Time Warner must allow at leastthree non-affiliated ISPs to offer high-speed access on its cable systems,before actually offering it to AOL's own customers . The media giant has sofar managed to complete enough deals and offer its own cable-modem serviceto subscribers in Syracuse, N.Y., Raleigh, N.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
The six-year-old Connect.Net, which offered ISBN, DSL, and T1 connectivityprimarily to home users, stands to profit considerably once it can offercable modem service, CEO and founder Andrew Coren said. "Not everybody wantsAOL as their ISP," he told Jane Roh of Silicon Alley Reporter. "Ourreputation for superior customer service and competitive pricing willprecede us, and consumers will know we're doing the best Internet service."
However, Coren conceeded that smaller ISPs will still be dwarfed by AOL TimeWarner. "These deals don't really solve the problem of competition, becauseno matter who's selling the service, AOL Time Warner is being paid asubscriber fee for every user. To that extent, they still own the network,"he said. "Most of the revenues are still going to them no matter who sellsit."
AOL Time Warner currently has deals to offer services from EarthLink andUnited Online, which was formed through a merger of NetZero and Juno OnlineServices last month.
The contracts are with New York's Connect.Net, which serves the New YorkCity metro area; Internet Junction Group, serving Tampa and central Florida;and South Texas Internet Connections, which serves Houston, San Antonio, andAustin. AOL submitted the applications last week to the Federal TradeCommission for approval.
Since December, AOL Time Warner has attempted to pick up non-affiliatedregional ISP partners in order to meet an FTC provision on the AOL-TimeWarner merger. The provision states that AOL Time Warner must allow at leastthree non-affiliated ISPs to offer high-speed access on its cable systems,before actually offering it to AOL's own customers . The media giant has sofar managed to complete enough deals and offer its own cable-modem serviceto subscribers in Syracuse, N.Y., Raleigh, N.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
The six-year-old Connect.Net, which offered ISBN, DSL, and T1 connectivityprimarily to home users, stands to profit considerably once it can offercable modem service, CEO and founder Andrew Coren said. "Not everybody wantsAOL as their ISP," he told Jane Roh of Silicon Alley Reporter. "Ourreputation for superior customer service and competitive pricing willprecede us, and consumers will know we're doing the best Internet service."
However, Coren conceeded that smaller ISPs will still be dwarfed by AOL TimeWarner. "These deals don't really solve the problem of competition, becauseno matter who's selling the service, AOL Time Warner is being paid asubscriber fee for every user. To that extent, they still own the network,"he said. "Most of the revenues are still going to them no matter who sellsit."
AOL Time Warner currently has deals to offer services from EarthLink andUnited Online, which was formed through a merger of NetZero and Juno OnlineServices last month.
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