LMDS open to local cable ops

An FCC ban on cable companies investing in local multipoint distribution service operators in their market expired June 30. The ban, adopted in 1997, was created because regulators thought cable would buy up the licenses to thwart competition.

At the time, one of the products expected to be delivered by LMDS was multichannel video. But in the past three years, the FCC discovered that LMDS wasn't being used for video delivery anyway, but for broadband data. The feds also reason that the technology's use probably would be expanded if more cable operators invested in the service.