WASHINGTON -- The Federal Communications Commission announced Friday that states cannot require regional phone companies to sell high-speed Internet service as a stand-alone product.
The 3 to 2 decision along party lines, voted on last week and released Friday, was a victory for BellSouth Corp., which had asked the commission for a ruling in 2003.
The ruling effectively gives BellSouth and other regional giants an advantage over competitors trying to sell alternative phone service.
Democratic Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps dissented, calling the practice of "tying" phone service to high-speed Internet service anti-competitive.
In doing so, Copps and Adelstein echoed the concerns of smaller carriers and Internet phone providers such as Vonage Holdings Corp., which have argued that requiring customers to buy Internet access and phone service from a single provider limits consumers' choices.
"If it is permissible to deny consumers DSL if they do not also order ... voice service, what stops a carrier from denying broadband service to an end-user who has cut the cord and uses only a wireless phone?" the Democrats wrote in a joint statement.
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