DSL Company, BlueStar Communications, Inc., Applauds FCC Decision On Line Sharing

Business Wire, Nov 19, 1999

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 18, 1999--

BlueStar Communications, Inc., the largest privately held provider of digital subscriber line (DSL) high-speed, broadband Internet access and data transmission in the Southeastern United States, can continue to establish the dominant DSL network in the Southeast due to the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC) decision to allow competitive carriers shared access to local copper phone lines controlled by Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (ILECS).

Formed in 1997 and incorporated in 1998, BlueStar Communications has an active digital subscriber line (DSL) network in Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Memphis, Tennessee; Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky; Charlotte, Raleigh, and Greensboro, North Carolina; Columbia, Charleston, and Greenville, South Carolina; Jacksonville, Florida; Birmingham, Alabama; and Jackson, Mississippi. Additionally, by year-end, it will have active circuitry in Mobile, Montgomery, and Huntsville, Alabama, and numerous cities in central and south Florida, including Orlando, Tampa, West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale and Boca Raton.

"BlueStar can continue to remain distinctive among the increasingly competitive and cluttered information-technology companies because of this ruling," said Norton Cutler, BlueStar Communications' Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and General Counsel. "We are an authorized competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC), an Internet service provider (ISP), and a carrier wrapped into one company," explained Cutler. "By establishing ourselves as a turn-key direct seller, as well as a wholesaler, BlueStar has been providing complete solutions to businesses' networking and data needs, and complete accountability to its end-user. Our business customers are attracted to BlueStar because of our single-source approach. The FCC ruling will continue to make BlueStar an attractive solution by reducing the amount of time required to access a telecom's central office and activate our circuitry."

"Currently, the phone companies don't share telephone lines, so BlueStar is forced to lease a second line from the phone companies in order to deliver DSL service. This has been a time-consuming and inefficient process. Today's ruling brings an end to that monopoly," Cutler said. "It will also help us enter the residential marketplace and make wholesaling even more attractive."

BlueStar Communications, headquartered in Nashville, has approximately 250 employees, most of whom are physically located in the company's five regional hubs and city offices. BlueStar's website is www.bluestar.net.