By
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Providers of high-speed Internet access on telephone lines objected yesterday to a House bill that would ease restrictions on local phone companies, letting them provide Internet access nationwide without requiring them to share their networks with competitors.
If the bill passes, said Covad Chairman Charles J. McMinn, "Covad will have no choice but to withdraw from the residential market. We would be locked out of the residential market forever."
Local telephone companies aside, Covad is the nation's largest Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) provider, with more than 320,000 subscribers and spanning about half the nation.
The bill's sponsors, Reps. Billy Tauzin, R-La., and John Dingell, D-Mich., said the bill would give consumers lower prices and greater choice between cable modem and DSL high-speed access and encourage phone companies to offer Internet services in rural areas.
"Areas in which broadband services are not available are in jeopardy of being left out of the information age," Tauzin said. "Those of you worried about cable rates for television service better worry about cable rates for Internet services if there isn't any competition out there."
The bill, which failed in the House last year and wasn't brought up in the Senate, faces opposition from members of both parties, raising the possibility that it won't emerge from Tauzin's House Commerce Committee.
Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Miss., called the bill a "sham" and "fundamentally flawed," adding that it would kill what's left of the firms competing with phone companies to provide DSL connections. Several once-vibrant competitors - including Northpoint and Winstar - have gone out of business in recent months.
Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said the legislation "creates a technological land of make-believe" by making special rules that pertain to data traffic over telephone lines, rather than voice as well.
"It's undigital, it's unnecessary, and it's unfair," he said, noting that telephone companies already serve customers outside their area in five states. "In order to benefit these poor corporate behemoths, thousands of companies will suffer the consequence."
