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More Competition Would Boost Broadband, Cerf Says

Internet pioneer turned ISP exec urges regulatory changes to promote competition, use of high-speed access.

Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service

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ATLANTA--Competition between different broadband technologies doesn't exist for many Americans, and U.S. telecommunication regulations should be changed to allow for more competition among providers of the same kind of service, says an Internet pioneer turned broadband executive.

WorldCom executive and Internet pioneer Vint Cerf urged greater competition among high-speed Internet access providers, in a keynote talk here Monday at the Supercomm conference. An early developer of Internet technology and former MCI Communications executive, he is now senior vice president of architecture and technology at WorldCom, a leading provider of long-distance and Internet services.

Better Deals?

Internet service providers should be able to buy access to any type of broadband path to homes and businesses, including DSL, cable modem, satellite, and wireless, at competitive prices, Cerf says.

More competition would drive down prices and increase adoption of broadband, he said.

"These technologies are effectively not competing with each other," the Internet pioneer said, returning to a favorite topic. Cerf said he has written letters to U.S. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans and FCC Chairman Michael Powell on the issue. Congress is currently considering several bills changing the regulatory status of various broadband services.

Because many people are too far from a carrier's central office for DSL, or the local cable provider may not have upgraded its infrastructure, for example, "intermodal" competition does exist for many users, depriving them of choice, he said.

Troubling Trend

Cerf said he is troubled by a series of recent decisions by the FCC that he said indicate that the agency is moving away from a pro-competitive perspective and no longer sees open telecommunications platforms for broadband as serving the public interest.

Another problem that needs to be addressed in broadband access is that most current technologies are asymmetric, he said. If two broadband users want to carry on a videoconference, they are unable to take advantage of their high-speed connection because their upstream connections are much narrower than the ones coming in, he said. Symmetrical connections may be one key to unlocking the potential of the Internet, he said.

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