BellSouth Looks To Get Out Of Unbundled DSL Rules

from the but-why-would-they? dept

Just as most of their competitors are going the other direction and offering unbundled, "naked" DSL, BellSouth is looking to stop offering it to try to force their customers to buy bundled DSL with local phone service. While earlier court rulings had forced the company to unbundle in certain states (and not in others), those rulings may not apply as UNE-P rules are set to expire tomorrow. What's amazing is that BellSouth seems to think this is a good thing. They're basically telling potential customers they won't sell them any service at all, unless they agree to buy a service they don't need. If ever there were a marketing recipe designed to drive potential customers straight into competitors' open arms, this is it. As I said on Friday, they're giving up their future (broadband) to try to weakly hold onto their past (local phone service).
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