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Thursday October 14, 2004

F.C.C. Clears Internet Access by Power Lines

Clearing the way for homes and businesses to receive high-speed Internet services through their electrical outlets, the Federal Communications Commission adopted rules on Thursday that would enable the utility companies to offer an alternative to the broadband communications services now provided by cable and phone companies.

As a further spur to the rollout of broadband Internet services, the F.C.C. also ruled that the regional Bell companies do not have to give competitors access to fiber optic lines that reach into consumers' home - a Dec

ision that prompted two of the Bells, SBC Communications and BellSouth, to announce that they would move quickly to build new fiber optic networks in residential neighborhoods. The ruling was criticized by rivals of the Bells and consumer groups, which called it anticompetitive and said it would lead to higher prices.

For the electric companies' part, broadband Internet service is more than a year away from becoming widely available. But the agency's ruling is expected to increase significantly the level of investment and interest by the utilities, which had been stymied in previous attempts to offer new services over power lines. They reach more American homes than either telephone lines or television cables.

So far, the technology has been limited mainly to experiments around the country, although a commercial version recently became available in some communities near Cincinnati.

Author: Stephen Labaton, New York Times
Source: Tuscaloosanews.com

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