PC Firms Back Baby Bells on Easing FCC Rules

Consumers would get more choices for high-speed Internet access if local phone companies were freed from federal regulations, a new alliance of large telephone and computer companies said Monday.

BellSouth Corp., Bell Atlantic Corp., SBC Communications Corp., US West Inc. and GTE Corp. have been pressing the Federal Communications Commission to ease some regulations that they say discourage them from modernizing their networks to provide high-speed Internet and other data services to residential consumers and businesses on a widespread basis.

Now, Compaq Computer Corp., Gateway Inc., Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. are backing those efforts with the FCC.

These telephone and computer companies have jointly developed a proposal, to be submitted to the FCC, that they contend would accelerate local phone companies’ roll-out of high-speed services.

But rivals, including AT&T; Corp., MCI WorldCom Inc. and Sprint Corp., assailed the plan, saying it would violate the law and blunt competition. AT&T; called it “yet another backdoor attempt by the Bell companies and GTE to undermine the very clear provisions of the Telecom Act.”