Cities Should Stay Out of Broadband Boom
No one has been more impatient for broadband than I have. Throughout my area there are fiber optic cables buried everywhere. I have fiber optics under my driveway and in my Christmas decorations, but no broadband connection to the Internet.
The reason for the slow broadband rollout in the United States is that broadband technologies have been burdened with outdated regulations and uncertainty about future regulation. Cable companies, because they have comparably lighter regulation, have moved quickly to enhance their video networks with broadband capability. But telecommunications companies have hesitated to assume the enormous risk and investment associated with building networks because they were afraid that such new networks would be subject to the same line-sharing regulations that plague their existing networks. It made no sense to make the enormous investment in a new broadband network if your competitor could free-ride on your network and cherry-pick your best customers.
The Federal Communications Commission has finally made it clear that those who build new networks will at least have an opportunity to profit from their own networks, and companies almost immediately announced enormous investments in broadband networks. SBC has announced that it would accelerate its $5 billion fiber rollout from five years to two or three years. And cable operators have invested $90 billion since 1996 to upgrade their systems.
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The reason for the slow broadband rollout in the United States is that broadband technologies have been burdened with outdated regulations and uncertainty about future regulation. Cable companies, because they have comparably lighter regulation, have moved quickly to enhance their video networks with broadband capability. But telecommunications companies have hesitated to assume the enormous risk and investment associated with building networks because they were afraid that such new networks would be subject to the same line-sharing regulations that plague their existing networks. It made no sense to make the enormous investment in a new broadband network if your competitor could free-ride on your network and cherry-pick your best customers.
The Federal Communications Commission has finally made it clear that those who build new networks will at least have an opportunity to profit from their own networks, and companies almost immediately announced enormous investments in broadband networks. SBC has announced that it would accelerate its $5 billion fiber rollout from five years to two or three years. And cable operators have invested $90 billion since 1996 to upgrade their systems.
Click on title for complete article
posted by GumboFilé at 8:07 PM
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