Sbc Issues Warning To Internet Firms

[cablewithaview]

November 4, 2005 -- SBC Communications' CEO Edward Whitacre has some news for the likes of Google and Yahoo! that want to provide video, voice-over IP and other services through the telecom giant's new broadband fiber-optic network — no free rides!

Whitacre said companies like Google would like to "use my pipes free, but I ain't going to let them do that because we have spent this capital and we have to have a return on it," Whitacre said in a recent interview with Business Week.

"We and the cable companies have made an investment," Whitacre said, "and for a Google or Yahoo! or Vonage or anybody to expect to use these pipes [for] free is nuts!"

Michael F. Balmoris, a spokesman for SBC, said Whitacre's comments "are being misinterpreted" because "they were not made in the context of the public Internet, but rather SBC's $4 billion investment in its new fiber network to provide Internet-based video services."

http://www.nypost.com/business/53929.htm

 

[mrschwarz]

Gee, and I thought WE paid for the pipes every month.

Anyone who calls a business using their SBC phone line should be worried. He probably 'ain't' going to let them do that either.

I pity the poor advertisers on any TV networks that broadcast on their new video service. 'Ain't' they going to be able to do that without paying SBC to use the service?

Aren't you glad they 'ain't' going to offer electric service? Imagine the problems accounting for which company had to pay for you to use their products on the pipes.