An appeal court in Washington D.C. has ruled that AT&T
Corporation, which is the largest cable network operator in the US,
shall not be forced to give competing ISPs access to its cable
lines. The court held that it was not empowered to place conditions
on a franchising deal involving MediaOne and AT&T Corp. because
such action would breach federal communication laws.
In an earlier court ruling, AT&T Corp. had been ordered to
open up its cable network to rival ISPs, but the appeal court has
now overturned this decision. The court this week concluded that
issues relating to telecommunications ought to be determined by
federal regulators and so it was not within its capacity to uphold
such an order.
Other US cable network providers AOL Time Warner and Comcast
have similarly been challenged for failing to grant open access to
their systems. However, the Federal Communications Commission
(“FCC”) did place limited open access requirements on AOL Time
Warner as part of its merger deal last year.
