The computer and telephony industries have joined together to present a unified proposal to the Federal Communications Commission, aiming to speed up the availability of broadband internet access services such as ADSL . Companies involved in the effort include Bell Atlantic Co, Bellsouth Corp, Compaq Computer Corp, Gateway Inc, GTE, Intel Corp, Microsoft Corp, SBC and US West Inc. The Information Technology Industry Council and the Business Software Alliance have also put their weight behind the group. The proposal aims to establish a set of ground rules to support rapid investment in high-speed infrastructure by telephone companies, while maintaining a competitive playing field, the group says. It seeks to promote competition in the local exchange data communications market by opening up access to the central offices of incumbent telephone companies to competitors, continue ISP access to the broadband networks of phone companies, lessen restrictive regulations on the incumbent phone companies, and enable regional Bell companies to provide long distance data communications – provided that freedom would reduce the cost of high-speed internet connections to consumers. The International Telecommunications Union recently endorsed a cross-industry effort to define a low-cost ADSL standard known as G.Lite, which is easier to install, not requiring the use of separate voice/data splitters.
