The US Federal Trade Commission on Thursday certified four providers of high-speed Internet service to compete on AOL Time Warner cable systems around the country, which fulfills the requirements that the FTC imposed on AOL prior to the purchase of Time Warner for $106.2 billion.
The four companies are :- Inter.net; New York Connect in the New York City area; Internet Junction in Tampa Bay and Central Florida; and STIC.NET in the San Antonio, Houston and Austin, Texas areas.
A spokeswoman for AOL said the company was pleased with the approval.
"Part of it (the deal) was to open up their backbone, but the fact that it"s not just national players (they are choosing) shows that local providers can make it as well," said Andrew Coren, head of New York Connect.Net, of the AOL Time Warner open access pact.