FCC to Propose Easing of Bells Regulation

In a ruling designed to speed delivery of advanced Internet service to U.S. homes, federal telephone regulators plan to propose Thursday abolishing a requirement that the Bell telephone companies lease to competitors any data-delivery services they might offer to their customers. The proposed rules, if formally enacted, would mark the most significant regulatory freedom the Federal Communications Commission has given the Bell companies to date, despite their continued monopolistic control over most of the $110-billion local telephone market. Officials hope the rules will become final by year’s end. The rules do not go as far as the Bells wanted, agency officials said. Critics of the FCC’s proposal, including the “Big Three” long-distance companies, AT&T; Corp., MCI Communications Corp. and Sprint Corp., say the move will harm the propagation of faster Internet links by allowing the Bells to monopolize the field. The Bells, they said, should not get regulatory relief until they meet requirements under the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to open their local telephone networks to competition.