update A deeply divided Federal Communications Commission suspended on Friday state rules forcing phone providers to offer “naked” DSL, in the commission’s first serious look at the controversial issue.

The ruling kicks off an investigation into naked DSL–selling broadband access by digital subscriber line without attaching it to other services, such as a local phone line.

The FCC voted 3-2 to suspend public utility commission regulations in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and Louisiana that had forced BellSouth to sell DSL service to other telephone operators, separate from its local phone service. In the past, the two services had been inextricably linked.

That decision sends a strong message to other state utility commissions that might be considering similar rules, which were intended to encourage the widespread availability of naked DSL. The Bells–BellSouth and the nation’s three other top phone and DSL providers–have warned that slightly different naked DSL rules in each state could slow broadband growth in the United States and undermine BellSouth’s incentive to invest in the service and the underlying network.

U.S. regulators are expected to suspend state public utility rules that force BellSouth to let customers buy its high-speed Internet service without having to also sign up for its local phone offering.

As early as Monday, said a source familiar with the situation, the Federal Communications Commission could suspend public utility commission regulations in California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and Louisiana that forced BellSouth to sell DSL, or digital subscriber line, service separate from its local phone service. In the past, the two services had been inextricably linked.

Such a decision would send a strong message to other state utility commissions that might be considering similar rules, the source said.

The expected FCC decision would have a profound effect on the few thousand people in the four states who now get “naked” DSL from BellSouth. It would also affect the millions of homeowners who would go with a separate DSL offering given the chance, insiders believe. The possible precedent for the Bells–BellSouth and the nation’s three other top phone and DSL providers–could even affect cable operators that sell broadband and telephony on fiber-optic networks, services that are much faster than the Bells’ DSL.