Monday, December 22, 2014

What We Need is Competition

I am from Connecticut, a state that AT&T grew frustrated with and sold to Frontier. Frontier took over the telecom infrastructure and POOF! Calamity struck. Frontier DSL has a reputation for being weak. Now in CT too. 46 cities are pushing to make CT a Gigabit state.


The FCC, states, Congress and the Duopoly fought over muni networks this year. In many states, it is now illegal. The thing is there wouldn't be a clamor for Muni networks if there was a competitive environment. But there isn't. Cable and telco hardly compete. And many regions have a single provider (read: monopoly). Or you have a state with at least one of the duopoly with an out-dated network. And where are the third parties?


The FCC worked on CAF experiments, E-Rate changes, USF Reform and other elements to bridge the Digital Divide this year. More fees to pay for a bigger USF budget in 2015.


One thought: the US economy spins on the Internet.


"While net neutrality captured Washington policy headlines, the most significant communications development in 2014 was the emergence of new and more viable approaches to building community and municipal Gigabit Networks. ... This year’s fight over net neutrality is not unrelated to the push for Gigabit Networks. The Federal Communications Commission’s Open Internet proceeding is a battle over scarcity: The prioritization of traffic on lower-capacity networks." Article by Drew Clark.


It isn't that I am pro-Muni. It is that I think there needs to be a third entity to push the Duopoly to supply the broadband network that we not only need and want but in many cases HAVE PAID FOR!


More on the CT Gigabit private/public idea here.

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