EU Notes That Broadband Competition Means At Least Four Providers
from the that-seems-a-bit-more-like-it dept
As the net neutrality debate is back in the headlines again, it's worth reminding everyone that this wouldn't even be a debate at all if there were real competition in the broadband market. Unfortunately, the FCC has chosen to use bogus numbers to determine if there's broadband competition, which allow them to claim that there's competition even if many people only have access to a single provider. Thankfully, it appears that Europe is going down a different path. It appears that European regulators have decided that it's not a competitive market unless there are at least four providers in the space. With less than that, regulations come into play to require line sharing (something the FCC did away with in the US), creating a more competitive environment.
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Filed Under: broadband, competition, eu
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competition seems to actually work in europe
For instance, all providers for internet give unlimited access, for very reasonable pricing. Many of the mobile providers give unlimited mobile access to the internet as well for only about $12/mo.
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Broadband Competition
I know that I'm one of the lucky ones who has these options but it's still not proper competition. If comcast decides to throttle down my connection I can go to Verizon and pay unknown amounts or go to one of the other three and also pay unknown amounts starting at $60.
By the way, there is a new provider in the Greater Pittsburgh area. I saw them advertised on turner classic movies but haven't seen them since. I don't suppose anyone here knows who that was. They say their faster than Comcast and start at $40.
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hmm
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line sharing is not "competition"
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Re: line sharing is not "competition"
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Re: Re: line sharing is not "competition"
When you can show me that infrastructure, then I'll think about giving the telcos a fair shake. So far, though, they're in the hole big time.
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Re: Re: Re: line sharing is not "competition"
We're technologists, right? Seems like we should appreciate the empirical evidence.
Indeed, line sharing is not competition. It's one network resold by a number of parties. The only competition is in the logo that appears on the bill.
Internet access is not a natural monopoly. There is plenty of room for competition if we keep bureaucrats off the network. Look at mobile phones -- are they a natural monopoly? If so, how is it that we have so many competitors?
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Re: Re: Re: Re: line sharing is not "competition"
What the government needs to do is get out of the way and stop protecting the incumbent operators from competition. I don't know of anywhere in the US where you can freely build systems to compete with them.
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Re: line sharing is not "competition"
Because the gov't was giving them rights of way and subsidies to make it worth their while... and because they can make plenty of money as a wholesaler.
how was verizon or sprint or whoever supposed to make back their investment in a reasonable amount of time?
Again, subsidies, plus wholesaling the infrastructure.
forcing someone to invest in infrastructure and then telling them they can't use that infrastructure for competitive advantage is not competition. it's socialism
It's not socialism. If you understand what natural monopolies are, you realize that it's better to create competition on top of the platform, rather than between platforms:
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080116/005211.shtml
if you want to start a company and invest in building infrastructure, then by all means compete
If the gov't is willing to give me billions in subsidies and grant me exclusive rights of way... then, yes, perhaps we can talk. But when those rights are limited to just a few providers, then it's not competitive at all. In fact, having the gov't give so much to telcos certainly seems a lot more socialistic than capitalistic to me.
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Re: Re: line sharing is not "competition"
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Re: line sharing is not "competition"
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Re: line sharing is not "competition"
Let me get this straight, you're saying line sharing is not competition because they're forcing someone to sell something at a competitive rate? Do you know what the words competitive and competition mean?
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Without state pressure though, Verizon would wire the high density areas and probably leave the rural areas without access.
Neither regulation or market forces is the only answer, there has to be both if we want everyone in the US to have competition.
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