EarthLink is pleased that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has voted unanimously to approve the America Online and Time Warner merger. Like the earlier approval by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), this decision will help ensure that consumers have choice in broadband Internet providers. The guiding principle of the Internet has always been choice – in access, in content and in applications. We are also pleased that the FCC has concluded that ‘residential high-speed Internet service constitutes a discrete market that must be considered separate from the residential narrowband market.’
This approval clears the way for EarthLink to offer service to Time Warner Cable customers pursuant to the agreement signed by EarthLink and Time Warner Cable on November 14, 2000. Time Warner Cable customers will very soon have choice in broadband Internet Service Providers (ISPs). We now look to the FCC in its pending Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding high-speed Internet access to extend this choice to customers of all cable systems throughout the country.
