Broadband and the baby bells

Abstract

Wireless access may be the way to get around the phone and cable monopolies. New rules adopted by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in February may: (A) Reboot the stalled U.S. telecommunications industry by spurring the construction of broadband digital subscriber line (DSL) and fiber telephone networks. (B) Kill any chance of a competitive DSL market in the United States, prolonging the telecom sector's malaise. (C) Be largely irrelevant to broadband's future in the United States, as decisions due later this year from the FCC will matter much more to the growth of true high-speed networks.