In order to approve AT&T’s purchase of Bellsouth, the FCC forced AT&T to agree to offer $19.95 a month ‘naked’ DSL service. Naked means that you do not need any other AT&T service to receive it. It will also offer $10 for new subscribers who also buy their services. Under the deal, the inexpensive DSL will offer 768 Kilobits per second. Average now is 1.5 to 3 megabits per second.

The requirement is expected to pressure other companies to match the offering to avoid the loss of business.