FCC ‘frees’ DSL service

As expected, the Federal Communications Commission today voted unanimously to declare DSL an information service, not a telecommunications service, thus lifting requirements for telcos to share their DSL lines with other Internet service providers.

The move is a boon to the incumbent telcos and more than likely a blow to smaller ISPs, which earlier this summer lost their battle to gain access to cable TV networks.

The FCC did impose a transition period, requiring telephone companies to continue to the Universal Service Fund for a period of 270 days, while the FCC and Congress work on USF reform. And it required telcos to continue to provide access to other ISPs for a year, to enable them to make other arrangements.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin had pushed for the change in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that said cable companies didn’t have to share their broadband networks with telcos.

“Chairman Martin should be widely applauded for pushing to completion these sweeping changes that will allow BellSouth to move higher-speed products and services from the lab to the hands of American consumers in the very near future,” said Herschel Abbott, BellSouth vice president of governmental affairs, in a prepared statement. “The chairman's leadership has led to an order that is comprehensive and will result in greater innovation that will benefit every broadband consumer. It must be noted that this consensus was developed with commendable speed, a speed that is appropriate and necessary given the importance of rapid technology changes in today's marketplace.”

Abbott said BellSouth would continue to offer services to wholesale customers--other ISPs--but that these could be redesigned.

The order is expected to spur or speed investment in broadband networks.

Democrat Michael Copps had supported open access in the past but said he voted to lift the requirements on telcos because of the Supreme Court decision.