Baby Bells get legal broadband victory.(TOP NEWS)

XDSL News, August, 2006

The Baby Bells won a victory on August 15 when a US appeals court said they could deny broadband access on most of their modern fiber-optic lines to DSL rivals.

The 1996 Telecommunications Act required existing carriers to give rivals access to their equipment to foster competition to regional Bell monopolies.

However, the Federal Communications Commission ruled in 2003 that the Bells do not have to give rivals in the digital subscriber line market broadband access to fiber-optic cables that go to private residences.

EarthLink and other Internet service providers challenged the FCC's 2003 ruling in the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and on August 15, a three-judge panel denied the petition.

The panel said the act allows...

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