DSL lines might be regulated less thanks to a new proposal

• Martin said he has circulated a proposal that would treat the service, known as digital subscriber line (DSL) broadband, as an information service.
• If approved, that would exempt it from most traditional telephone rules, such as requirements to lease network access to competitors.
• The FCC in 2002 decided that broadband Internet service offered by cable companies was an information service and the Supreme Court last month upheld that decision.
• That has cleared the road for the FCC to act on DSL service.
• Martin said he has already "shared with my colleagues" a proposal that will give telephone carriers the same regulatory framework as other providers.
• "I hope an order will be adopted as soon as possible," Martin, a Republican, said at a meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.
• Since the FCC is currently divided between two Democrats and two Republicans, Martin must convince at least one Democrat to back his proposal.
• Previous Next Telephone companies have complained that applying legacy telephone rules to new broadband services put them at a competitive disadvantage against other companies, such as cable operators, that do not have to adhere to such regulations.
• "The lack of regulatory parity between telecoms and cable is inhibiting broadband growth," said Martin.
• The FCC could still impose some restrictions on the service if the agency found the public interest was harmed.
• Verizon Communications and SBC Communications Inc., the two biggest local telephone companies, have aggressively been pushing DSL, offering discounts to sign up customers.
• Verizon earlier on Tuesday said it had added 278,000 high-speed lines in the second quarter, some of which include service via new fiber-optic lines.
• While DSL is usually cheaper, cable Internet service typically offers faster speeds.