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AT&T Admits Defeat In Lawsuit It Filed To Stall Google Fiber (arstechnica.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the winning-and-defeating dept.

According to Ars Technica, AT&T is reportedly abandoning its attempt to stop a Louisville ordinance that helped draw Google Fiber into the city. The telecommunications giant sued Louisville and Jefferson County, Kentucky to stop an ordinance that gives Google Fiber and other ISPs faster access to utility poles. AT&T's lawsuit was dismissed in August by a district court, who determined that AT&T's claims that the ordinance is invalid are false. WDRB News and Louisville Business First are both reporting that AT&T has decided not to appeal the ruling.

9 of 34 comments (clear)

  1. No Need by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Google is abandoning fiber. No need for AT&T to waste money on lawsuits.

    1. Re:No Need by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      There are two project states at Google (and they often overlap):
      - In beta
      - Being shutdown with little notice to its users

    2. Re:No Need by leonbev · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Kinda clever when you think about it... AT&T and the other telcos win by basically stopping Google from expanding their Fiber to other markets, and then cancel their lawsuits saying that they felt "defeated".

      I think that most competitive businesses would happily take that kind of "defeat".

    3. Re:No Need by Slashdot+Junky · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Don't forget that progress is subjective and change for the sake of change isn't a smart approach. AT&T was and is only protecting their revenue stream and access to profit. Google was investing in hopes of establishing a profit generating revernue stream. Neither give a shit about progress.

      --
      .
      Landfill Mining Co.
      Managing the (Un)natural Resources of Tomorrow
  2. Warms one's heart by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Using the court system as a stalling tactic instead of righting a wrong. Yer right up there with Patent Trolls AT&T.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    1. Re:Warms one's heart by Zaelath · · Score: 2

      That should be a class action suit by their own customers.

    2. Re:Warms one's heart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Using the court system as a stalling tactic instead of righting a wrong. Yer right up there with Patent Trolls AT&T.

      Breaking up AT&T was a heck of a good idea when it happened, and now it is an even better idea.

      We need to get back to breaking up monopolies, and that goes doubly so far laws and such that promote monopolies.

  3. no...not defeat...just ran out the clock by turkeydance · · Score: 2

    Google gave up on fiber

  4. Re:Didn't they get what they wanted? by Todd+Knarr · · Score: 2

    Maybe not. One of the big reasons Google stopped the fiber roll-out was because of the constant stonewalling of companies like AT&T when it came to letting Google run cable on the utility poles. If municipalities are able to push back against the incumbent telecomms and cable companies and make it easier and faster for new companies to get fiber on the poles, Google may get back in the game. Wireless had some advantages, but it's also got some major disadvantages in built-up areas where spectrum and tower space are at a premium and fiber's needed for transceiver backhaul anyway.