Letter from James Ciconni (AT&T), David Baker (Mindspring), and Kenneth Fellman.
To: FCC Chairman William Kennard.
Re: Open access to Internet at high speed over cable.
Date: December 6, 1999.
Source: AT&T.

December 6, 1999

Chairman William E. Kennard
Federal Communications Commission
445 Twelfth Street, SW, Room 8-B20
Washington, DC 20554

Dear Chairman Kennard:

At your suggestion, the undersigned met to discuss an acceptable means of providing consumers with a choice of Internet Service Providers (“ISPs”) when connecting to the Internet at high speed over cable.  After a series of extensive discussions, this effort has produced the principles set forth below.  While there remains disagreement concerning current exclusive contractual arrangements between AT&T and other companies, AT&T has agreed to adhere to the following principles once these exclusive contractual arrangements no longer apply.

AT&T will work toward, and implement, high-speed Internet access over cable that will provide consumers with:

• a choice of ISPs;
• the ability to exercise their choice of ISPs without having to subscribe to any other ISP;
• a choice of Internet connections at different speeds, and at prices reasonable and appropriate to those speeds;
• direct access to all content available on the World Wide Web without any AT&T-imposed charge to the consumer for such content;
• the continued ability to change or customize their “start page” and other aspects of their Internet experience;
• the functionality of their ISP comparable to that which such ISP has on competing high-speed systems, subject to any technical constraints particular to, or imposed upon, all ISPs using AT&T’s cable system to deliver high-speed Internet access.

To that end, AT&T is prepared to negotiate private commercial arrangements with multiple ISPs, to take effect upon the expiration of existing exclusive contractual arrangements, that would provide the ISP:

• Internet transport services for high-speed Internet access at prices reasonably comparable to those offered by AT&T to any other ISP for similar services, subject to other terms negotiated between the parties on a commercial basis;
• the opportunity to market directly to consumers high-speed Internet access over cable using AT&T’s Internet transport services;
• the opportunity through means to be mutually agreed upon, to market their high-speed Internet access which uses AT&T’s Internet transport services to AT&T’s cable customers who have not already designated an ISP;
• the opportunity to bill cable subscribers directly for services provided by the ISP that are additional to the services provided by AT&T;
• the opportunity to differentiate service offerings by various means, such as enhanced customer care and advanced applications; and
• the opportunity to maintain brand recognition in all such offerings.

Any such opportunities will be subject to terms and conditions to be agreed upon by the parties which will address, as appropriate, but not be limited to issues such as pricing, billing, customer relationship, design of start page, degree of customization, speed, system usage, caching services, co-branding, ancillary services, advertising and e-commerce revenues, and infrastructure costs.

Please do not hesitate to call any of us if you have any questions.

Sincerely,