Technology officials in the United States fear that recent court rulings could shrink the Internet service provider market in the coming years.
The latest issue of CIO Today reports that IT officials see rulings exempting DSL and cable-modem services from telecom laws could cause some ISPs to be barred from networks, or at least see their rates rise significantly.
"A lot of companies use these types of services to support mobile workers and virtual offices. There may not only be fewer choices, but the cost of these services is likely going up," said Jay Shell, vice president of the Enterprise Networking Technologies User Association.
An alternative possibility, however, could be technical innovations and quality improvements in the wireless arena that allow ISPs to bypass the telecom infrastructure as it delivers last-mile access.
Copyright 2005 by United Press International
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