The nation's big cable and phone companies hailed the decision as a boon for competition.

It gives the cable companies an incentive to invest in bringing new technologies to the marketplace for the benefit of their customers, said Kyle McSlarrow, president of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, the cable-TV industry's leading trade group, in a teleconference.

Some consumer advocates and telecommunication industry analysts, though, argue Monday's ruling could drive ISPs, such as Xmission and EarthLink, into serving their customers over alternative networks such as the municipally supported UTOPIA system - short for the Utah Telecommunications Open Infrastructure Agency.

"The decision certainly means the options open to ISPs are more limited," said Paul Glenchur, a telecom analyst with Stanford Washington Research Group. "They either won't get access [from cable operators] or, if they get it, it will be at a higher price than they're willing to pay."

In contrast, the UTOPIA system, now being developed with the financial support of 11 Utah communities, will be an open network available for anyone to use, UTOPIA chief executive Roger Black said.

Short term, the Supreme Court's decision probably won't boost UTOPIA's prospects, Black said. "As far as I know there wasn't anyone locally clamoring to get onto the Comcast network. But long term the decision could give new wings to municipally-owned systems nationwide."

In a 6-3 decision, the court determined the Federal Communications Commission was justified in classifying cable-modem connections as an "information service," a determination that exempted cable providers from opening up their networks for use by rival operators.

In contrast, telephone companies such as Qwest must allow competitors access to their lines and switches, but they, too, are hoping the FCC eventually will give them the same latitude to exclude broadband competitors from their networks.

The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) said the ruling is an abandonment of a fundamental principle of open access that historically has applied to telecommunications systems, roads, canals, railroads, steamships, airlines and the telegraph.

The federation said it is foolhardy to give cable and telephone monopolies the ability to stifle innovation by discriminating against ISPs and applications developers, whose services might compete with their in-house products.

"Municipal systems, such as the one under development in Utah, represent a growing alternative for companies" that are interested in innovations and competitive services, said Matt Hartwig, spokesman for the CFA.

steve@sltrib.com