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FCC denounces Net ruling
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June 15, 1999: 4:03 p.m. ET
Commissioner Kennard says federal cable decision will lead to chaos
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The Federal Communications Commission chairman Tuesday suggested that the agency would seek to minimize the effect of a court decision allowing local authorities to regulate cable Internet services.
William Kennard, FCC chairman, warned that chaos would ensue if the nation's 30,000 local cable authorities were allowed to decide the technical standards for high-speed Internet access.
"The market would be rocked with uncertainty, investment would be stymied, consumers would be hurt," Kennard said.
Kennard's remarks were his first response to a federal court's ruling two weeks ago that local cable franchising authorities had jurisdiction to require AT&T Corp. (T) to allow competing Internet service providers onto its system. AT&T plans to appeal the decision.
In a speech to the National Cable Television Association, Kennard said the FCC was considering its options, but declined to be specific. Among possible actions, the agency could ask the court to set aside its ruling temporarily during an appeal, enter the case on appeal on the side of the cable industry, or even possibly use some of its own broad authority to supersede local regulations.
"We can't overreact to one federal district court decision," Kennard told reporters after his speech "We're very early on in this. There are a number of options that we can explore. At this point, we need to allow the legal process to play out a little bit more."
Kennard also noted that the best way to provide high-speed access to consumers is to create incentives for the industry to build broadband networks with minimal government intervention.
"The fact is that we don't have a duopoly in broadband," Kennard said. "We don't even have a monopoly in broadband. We have a no-opoly. We have to get these pipes built."
-- from staff and wire reports
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