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July 08, 2002

Ending "Competition"/Encourage Broadband

There is a new study out by the Economic Policy Institute that argues for a new approach to encouraging high speed broadband. Unlike many progressive consumer groups, the study authors (like myself) argue:

[Local phone companies] are discouraged from investing in high-speed services because of asymmetric regulations that require them to lease their network facilities to competitors at prices that do not fully recover costs. When businesses cannot recoup the costs of their investments, they are discouraged from investing, and consumers lose.

While regulation is needed to protect consumers, "competition" makes little sense in an area where the product may never appear if the phone companies can't recoup their costs of deployment.

Posted by Nathan at July 8, 2002 01:53 PM

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