Telecom in the US - 11 June 2005

US: will cable companies be forced to open their network to third parties? The broadband industry is waiting Supreme Court decision in Brand X case. Brand X Services is an ISP that needed access to a cable system to offer its services to the cable operator's customers. But the FCC declared cable-modem service an information service and thus not required to provide open access to other companies. Let see the Supreme Court decision by the end of the month.

Municipal network services are another hot topic. A recent bill has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives to execute a ban on the municipal network services across the country. The bill states that the municipalities should not be allowed to offer telecommunications, telecommunications service, information service or cable service in an area where a private company is already engaged in providing similar services. This will, however, not apply retroactively to existing municipal services.