AOL: No Longer the Sugar Daddy of Choice?
Sep 05 2001
Sorry, AOL, not this time. The mega-modem mogul is coming up one short in the trio of shotgun ISP marriages the feds forced it into as a condition of its Time Warner merger.
High Speed Access Corp. is the little company with the big name that was supposed to follow EarthLink and Juno into broadband bliss with AOL. Now HSA says it’s out, and though today’s coverage in the Washington Post gives the news a national profile, Denver newspapers have been nosing after it as a local story for weeks.
After shopping itself around, HSA began mulling an offer early last month from Charter Communications for its cable-modem operations, according to the Denver Post. Since Charter honcho Paul Allen is already HSA’s major shareholder through his Vulcan Ventures, the deal would make a neat package. It would also effectively spell the demise of HSA, which specializes in rural connections and has 176,000 subscribers.
The Denver Post put the cable-modem operations at 65 percent of HSA’s biz, and word from the Associated Press is that if HSA takes up Charter on its $73 million deal, it will fold the rest of its business as well. We guess that’s why two weeks after Charter’s offer - still under review, according to the Washington Post - the Rocky Mountain News reported that HSA dropkicked its plan to offer DSL. That about-face came three months after the company had agreed to buy the equipment from Lucent. Oops. Since Lucent has gotten into so much trouble from nonpaying customers, was the equipment sent COD?
Last Friday the Rocky Mountain News reported that HSA would be dropping its plans for a broadband combo plate - including its planned deal with AOL. The News quoted an HSA spokesman’s cryptic explanation that HSA’s content packages wouldn’t have been "appropriate" for the Time Warner cable project. Translation: Sorry, our plans have changed.
Perhaps AOL will have to start being a little nicer if it wants to secure a new partner to keep federal regulators happy. According to the Wall Street Journal, ISP Texas Networking has complained to the FCC that AOL has stiff-armed it in talks about getting onto AOL’s partner list. "They won't meet with us, they won't discuss contract terms and they won't discuss technical issues," the Journal quoted their attorney as saying. But hard times are making everyone a little humbler, no?
AOL Time Warner Loses U.S.-Mandated Net Access Partner
Washington Post
Tech Firms Seek Escape From Market
Denver Post
High Speed Access group target of Charter offer
Rocky Mountain News
HSA reports 2nd-quarter loss of 58 cents a share
Rocky Mountain News
High Speed Access abandons broadband plan
Rocky Mountain News
Multiple-provider plan fizzles
Rocky Mountain News
AOL Is Avoiding Service Negotiations, Texas Networking Says in Complaint
The Wall Street Journal