So close, and yet so far. But the European Commission and the U.S. Justice Dept. are withholding approval until the companies can prove that their combined Internet operations won't crush rivals.
Regulators are on the right track.
Internet data networks are doubling every four months, and in a few years, they'll carry far more traffic than traditional voice networks. This is a good start. And to avoid government regulation, the industry could police pricing itself through an arbitration system. You don't want interconnection used as a strategic weapon,'' says Hal R. Varian, dean of computer studies at the University of California at Berkeley. Still, more competition is coming soon to the Internet backbone.