Death by deregulation

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Sensible

I have two caveats, but this statement summarizes the situation well:

Brick by brick, decision by decision, under the rubric of "deregulation" the FCC has created an essentially impenetrable wall to local competition for telecom services. Customers can purchase landline services from the local Baby Bell, cellular services from a shrinking handful of suppliers, or Internet access or telephony services from the local cable company.

First caveat: the Baby Bells own the "shrinking hadful of [cellular services] suppliers", so that's a distinction without a difference.

Second caveat: rather than create "an essentially impenetrable wall to local competition to telecom services", they have refused to create competition by regulation.

A competitor could arise, but will not because of the high expense and low likelihood of prevailing.
Some municipalities are trying to supply infrastructure and then lease to an operator. But both the political process of government and the need for operators to profit are going to limit how successful this initiative can be.

The FCC has ceased to intervene, not actively created the wall. The author should have remained consistent with his title.

Posted by: Anton Philidor   Posted on: 08/23/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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