SBC Has To Unbundle DSL

Legal Issues

from the can't-get-around-it dept

A judge in California has told SBC that they can not deny DSL connections to customers who decide to use someone else for local telephone service. While companies like Qwest and Verizon have already made it official policy to continue offering DSL to customers who go elsewhere for local telephone service (or cancel it altogether in favor of a mobile phone or VoIP), SBC and BellSouth have been vehemently against doing so. BellSouth has faced similar lawsuits – some of which they’ve won and some of which they’ve lost. No matter what the legal standing, it’s a bad business practice for DSL providers to do this. They’re basically admitting that they have no real advantage and they need to bundle to stay alive. Especially now that fewer people actually need traditional local phone service, they’re shooting themselves in the foot by encouraging people to sign up with other broadband providers. Only in the logic of a phone company would it make sense to turn away a broadband customer (which is their future) because someone won’t sign up for local telephony service (which is their past). It’s like telling someone early last century that you won’t sell them a car unless they buy a horse to go with it.