Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin says that the agency's new rules on broadband Internet access create a "level playing field." But critics—including leading investment bankers and Internet technology vendors—are alleging that the FCC is actually creating a new, unfair playing field, where cable and traditional telecom companies are favored over ISPs.

"We have to assume now that we are in a duopoly world," said Jonathan Taplin, a partner with Business Edge Solutions, a Los Angeles-based consulting company that works with telecom clients, in an interview with eWEEK.com. By Gene Koprowski