Telephony
WSJ: MCI Cancels Plan to Resell Local Service
TelecomAM: MCI Throws the Towel in on Local Service Resale
TelecomAM: Bell Atlantic Says It's Not Surprised By MCI Announcement
WSJ: Bells Win Ruling By Court Curbing FCC's Regulation
TelecomAM: LCI Proposes Splitting Bells Into Wholesale, Retail Companies
FCC: Section 271 Review: The Challenge of Charlie Brown
FCC: Presentation on Status of Local Telephone Competition
Infrastructure
WSJ: Bells' Latest Effort to Offer Fast Access To the Internet
Shows More Promise
NTIA: Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure
Assistance Program
NYT: Private Group Warns of U.S. Internet Registry Plans
Microsoft
WSJ: Microsoft and Justice End a Skirmish, Yet War Could Escalate
WP: Microsoft to Allow Browser Blocking
NYT: Microsoft Bows to U.S. Order on Browser
WSJ: Netscape to Share Browser Program Code
NYT: Analysis: A Concession and a Push in Browser War
WP: Netscape Offers Web Browser for Free
Lifestyles
NYT: Seats With Computers Add New Dimension to Games
** Telephony **
Title: MCI Cancels Plan to Resell Local Service
Source: Wall Street Journal (A10a)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Shawn Young
Issue: Competition
Description: MCI announced it would abandon its effort to resell the Baby
Bells' local phone service under its own name. MCI said that the high
prices the regional Bells charge resellers in an effort to ward off
competition makes resale an impossible strategy. "The more you sell, the
more you lose," said Timothy Price, MCI's president. [See also TelecomAM
"MCI Throws the Towel in on Local Service Resale"
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/]
Title: Bell Atlantic Says It's Not Surprised By MCI Announcement
Source: Telecom AM---jan. 23, 1998
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Competition
Description: MCI's decision to stop offering local service by resale "comes
as no surprise," Bell Atlantic officials said. Senior VP of Gov't. Relations
Thomas Tauke quoted bank robber Willie Sutton, saying MCI has decided to
focus on building facilities for business service "because that's where the
money is." Until states end the "social contract" of subsidizing low
residential rates with high business rates, Tauke said, residential
competition never will develop.
Title: Bells Win Ruling By Court Curbing FCC's Regulation
Source: Wall Street Journal (B6)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Stephanie N. Mehta
Issue: Competition
Description: The Baby Bells won another federal court victory that could
further delay competition in local telephone markets. The U.S. Court of
Appeals in St. Louis ordered the FCC to uphold an earlier court ruling that
stripped the federal agency of some of its power to set prices and rules on
how rivals of the Bells can enter local phone markets. The three-judge
panel's strongly worded order came a day before the U.S. Supreme Court's
decision today on whether it will hear an appeal of rulings made last year
by the Eighth Circuit. In those rulings, the Eighth Circuit has maintained
that states, not the FCC, have authority over the prices Baby Bells can
charge rivals for hooking up to their networks.
Title: LCI Proposes Splitting Bells Into Wholesale, Retail Companies
Source: Telecom AM---jan. 23, 1998
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Long Distance
Description: LCI International proposed that Bell companies be allowed 'fast
track' entry into long distance if they separate their network operations
from their service operations. In a petition filed with the FCC, LCI said
incumbents have conflicting interests because they own the networks all
carriers must use and also serve as competitors on those networks. Bell
companies that agree to separate those interests into two companies no
longer would have an unfair competitive advantage requiring a long distance
ban, LCI said. It promised to offer bundled and long distance service
immediately in competition with any Bell company implementing its plan.
Title: Section 271 Review: The Challenge of Charlie Brown
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Powell/spmkp801.html
Author: Commissioner Michael Powell
Issue: Competition
Description: Remarks by Commissioner Michael K. Powell Before the United
States Telephone Association, Washington, D.C. "While my remarks focus on
the challenges posed for regulation of the Bell Operating Companies, I
recognize that what the FCC and other regulators learn in the context of
section 271 may ultimately affect how we view incumbents telephone companies
more generally. More importantly, I firmly believe that some of the most
innovative moves to spur competition and provide value to consumers are
being made, not by the BOCs, but by some of the smaller incumbents
represented here today. I encourage all of you to keep my office and the
rest of the Commission informed of your activities and how these activities
can provide useful models or insights for the section 271 process -- we are
all in this together."
Title: Presentation on Status of Local Telephone Competition
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Miscellaneous/Public_Notices/1998/pnmc8004.html
Issue: Competition
Description: The Federal Communications Commission will conduct an en banc
presentation on the status of local telephone competition as part of the
Commission's open agenda meeting on Thursday, January 29, 1998. This special
presentation by trade association and local exchange carrier officials will
commence at approximately 10:45 a.m. in the FCC meeting room, Room 856.
Copies of presentation material will be available on the Commission's Web
site at http://www.fcc.gov/enbanc/.
** Infrastructure **
Title: Bells' Latest Effort to Offer Fast Access To the Internet Shows More
Promise
Source: Wall Street Journal (B6)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Stephanie N. Mehta
Issue: Infrastructure
Description: The Baby Bells are promising easy, super-fast access to the
Internet again. But this time the Bells and GTE are teaming up with heavy
hitters in the computer industry to tout ADSL, or asymmetrical digital
subscriber line, which promises to let consumers zip along the information
superhighway and download data at speeds of 1.5 million bits per second.
Trouble is, the Bells don't have a stellar track record selling such
services. Consumers have complained of long waits for delivery, high prices
and service problems. The Bells may get it right this time, though. The
stakes are higher, thanks to the cable companies' rapid entry into the
high-speed access business. And the version of ADSL favored by the computer
industry is relatively easy for the Bells to deploy: it works over ordinary
copper wires, and technicians don't have to install special lines at the
customer's home.
Title: Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program
Source: NTIA
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/98tiiap1.htm
Issue: Infrastructure
Description: NTIA has announced the 1998 round of the Telecommunications and
Information Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP)
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/tiiap/index.html. For fiscal year 1998,
approximately $17 million in grant funds will be awarded. The deadline for
submitting applications is March 12, 1998. On January 15, NTIA will hold a
short public briefing to introduce the 1998 TIIAP competition. NTIA will
also hold a series of regional "Outreach Workshops and Partnering Events"
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/tiiap/Application/outreach2.html.
Title: Private Group Warns of U.S. Internet Registry Plans
Source: New York Times/CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/012398domain.html
Author: Jeri Clausing
Issue: Internet Domain
Description: Members of a private group trying to add new domains to the
Internet said at a news conference yesterday that the government's decision
to delay the group's plan is creating chaos on the Internet and threatens to
derail competition. The group, which has insisted in the past that it will
add the new domains
with or without the government's approval, conceded that they will have to
put their plan on hold if Ira C. Magaziner, Clinton's Internet Czar,
finalizes the recommendation he has been discussing this week. The plan
Magaziner has verbally floated would allow only "one of the seven new
top-level domains to be added immediately and would extend Network Solutions
exclusive rights over the coveted ".com," ".net," and ".org" domains until a
private body can be put in place to control all the Internet domains and
addresses." Magaziner's plan is expected to be released any day. "Whatever
he does, if he interjects himself by making micromanagement decisions, he
has now preserved the monopoly because the process the U.S. government will
have to go through is so long it will last two and half years," said Don
Heath, president of Internet Society. Any delay will leave 88 companies,
that paid $10,000 each to become registrars of the seven new domains, in
limbo. "What we will see is NSI using its monopoly to crush companies like
my own," said Ivan Pope of the British company NetNames, a member of the
Council of Registrars. "They will delay this as long as possible."
** Microsoft **
Title: Microsoft and Justice End a Skirmish, Yet War Could Escalate
Source: Wall Street Journal (A1)
http://wsj.com/
Author: David Bank & John R. Wilke
Issue: Antitrust
Description: Microsoft settled a legal skirmish with the U.S. Dept. of
Justice, but its hardball tactics have set the stage for what may be a wider
and costly war. The company accepted terms to avoid a contempt-of-court
citation sought by the Justice Dept. for allegedly violating a court order.
Microsoft will do what the agency has sought: to give the nation's
personnel-computer makers the right to ship the current version of its
best-selling Windows 95 operating system on their machines without also
being forced to display Microsoft's software for browsing the Internet. But,
because of Microsoft's arrogant posture in its effort to defer compliance,
the Justice Dept. is now building a new antitrust case that could affect the
software giant's planned introduction of Windows 98 later this year. Lawyers
familiar with the case say the case would attack the heart of Microsoft's
strategy of using Windows to muscle into new markets.
Title: Microsoft to Allow Browser Blocking
Source: Washington Post (G1,G4)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-01/23/162l-012398-idx.html
Author: Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Issue: Antitrust
Description: The Microsoft Corp. agreed yesterday to allow personal computer
makers to block access to the company's Internet browser when installing
Microsoft's latest version of its Windows 95 operating system. The company's
decision to offer this significant concession to the Justice Department will
prevent the software giant from being held in contempt of court. "This is a
very important victory for consumers and innovators," said Assistant
Attorney General Joel I. Klein. He said that the settlement shows technology
companies "that their products can compete on their own merits and not be
snuffed out by Microsoft's use of monopoly power." Legal experts say that
this agreement will most likely remain in effect until Windows 95 is
replaced by a new product. The settlement was reached after intense
discussions Wednesday night.
Title: Microsoft Bows to U.S. Order on Browser
Source: New York Times (A1,C5)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/012398microsoft.html
Author: Joel Brinkley
Issue: Antitrust
Description: In order to avoid being held in contempt of court, the
Microsoft Corp. has agreed to do just what it said it could not - to sell
its latest version of its Windows 95 operating system to computer
manufacturers with their Internet browser hidden or partially removed.
However, the agreement only settles part of the government's antitrust case
against the software company. The larger issues are now before an appeals
court, where the hearing is scheduled for April 21.
Title: Netscape to Share Browser Program Code
Source: Wall Street Journal (B6)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Don Clark
Issue: Online Services
Description: Netscape, hoping to one-up Microsoft, said it will give away
its flagship World Wide Web software along with a programming code that will
let other companies enhance it. By posting this "source code," Netscape is
betting that it can encourage third-party software companies to create
improvements on its products, which will be submitted back to Netscape and
included in future versions of the product line. "It's a brilliant move,"
said Bruce Smith, an analyst at Merill Lynch & Co. "By giving away their
source code, they can enlist an army of unpaid developers to work on their
side."
Title: Analysis: A Concession and a Push in Browser War
Source: New York Times (C1,C5)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/012398microsoft-side.html
Author: Steve Lohr
Issue: Internet
Description: Netscape announced yesterday that they will begin distributing
their browser products for free. This tactic is the same one used by
Microsoft since 1995 in an effort to catch up with Netscape in the browser
market. But even more surprising is that Netscape plans to freely license
the basic computer code for its browser products which allow users to tailor
the Netscape technology for their own use. By freely licensing its source
code, Netscape hopes to draw software developers around its technology
standard and then push that standard forward. "This is a very powerful play
by Netscape," said James F. Moor, president of Geopartners Research Inc., a
consulting company in Cambridge, MA. "The company is going back to its
roots. Netscape grew so rapidly because it first created a community and
that community became a force."
Title: Netscape Offers Web Browser for Free
Source: Washington Post (G3)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-01/23/165l-012398-idx.html
Author: Elizabeth Corcoran
Issue: Internet
Description: Netscape Communications Corp. said yesterday that it will begin
to give away its Navigator software for browsing on the Web. The company
also plans to let other software developers contribute features for future
products. "Our business has evolved beyond the browser," said Netscape chief
executive, James Barksdale. Netscape is increasing its efforts to build
software for corporations and promote its Web site as a place where
companies can advertise and consumers can purchase software. "It's not a
surprise, and from a [software] and content developer's perspective we're
happy to see equal competition" between Netscape and its chief rival,
Microsoft, said Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo Inc.
** Lifestyles **
Title: Seats With Computers Add New Dimension to Games
Source: New York Times/CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/012398super-side.html
Author: Matt Richtel
Issue: Lifestyles!
Description: "Stadiums may soon feature a new technology called ChoiceSeat,
which puts computer/television monitors on the arms of individual seats. The
touch-screen computers, which are being tested at Qualcomm Stadium during
the Super Bowl on Sunday, not only will provide live game coverage, instant
replays and updated game statistics, but they also will sell merchandize and
take food orders. 'Not only can you order souvenirs, you can order a beer,'
said Larry Kopald, chief creative officer for Think New ideas, a Los Angeles
advertising firm that has worked with ChoiceSeat. 'You'll be able to have
the concession delivered right to your seat!'" ChoiceSeat plans to
capitalize on the increasing use of computers to market directly to sports
fans and the newfound affordability of bandwidth and computer technology.
Now in one stop, fans can tap into technology, attend the game and remain a
couch potato. [But does it do Windows?]
*********
And we are outta here. Have a great weekend -- see you Monday. (You knew we
had to get one SuperBowl story in)