ISP ruling may boost systems like UTOPIA
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday told Comcast Corp. it can keep rival Internet service providers (ISPs) off its cable network - a decision that may help boost the prospects of Utah's municipally-owned fiber-optic network now under construction.
    The nation's big cable and phone companies hailed the decision as a boon for competition.
    It gives the cable companies an incentive to invest in bringing new technologies to the marketplace for the benefit of their customers, said Kyle McSlarrow, president of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, the cable-TV industry's leading trade group, in a teleconference.
    Some consumer advocates and telecommunication industry analysts, though, argue Monday's ruling could drive ISPs, such as Xmission and EarthLink, into serving their customers over alternative networks such as the municipally supported UTOPIA system - short for the Utah Telecommunications Open Infrastructure Agency.
    "The decision certainly means the options open to ISPs are more limited," said Paul Glenchur, a telecom analyst with Stanford Washington Research Group. "They either won't get access [from cable operators] or, if they get it, it will be at a higher price than they're willing to pay."
    In contrast, the UTOPIA system, now being developed with the financial support of 11 Utah communities, will be an open network available for anyone to use, UTOPIA chief executive Roger Black said.
    Short term, the Supreme Court's decision probably won't boost UTOPIA's prospects, Black said. "As far as I know there wasn't anyone locally clamoring to get onto the Comcast network. But long term the decision could give new wings to municipally-owned systems nationwide."