AT&T applies to end obligation to service landlines in California

Re:AT&T applies to end obligation to service landlines in Ca... by Eddy_Viscosity2 on Saturday February 03, 2024 @12:22PM (#39242496)

Even in this version of the free market, monopoly is still the incentive and end goal. Eventually, either a single player wins out (possibly by buying or merging with previous competitors) or a few big players agree that colluding with each other is more profitable then competing (remember there is no government interfering in this free market to prevent this). Once this happens, new players won't enter the market because they can immediately be crushed by the incumbent.

So either way, monopoly is the inevitable end point.

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Re:AT&T applies to end obligation to service landlines in Ca... by PaulDavisThe1st on Saturday February 03, 2024 @12:55PM (#39242876)

Monopoly is only an incentive if it is clear that it will be permitted.

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Re:AT&T applies to end obligation to service landlines in Ca... by Eddy_Viscosity2 on Saturday February 03, 2024 @02:13PM (#39243682)

But it always is though. In a government regulated economy, there is regulatory capture and lobbying to create industry friendly laws that allow monopoly (aka our current system). In a fully free market, then there is no laws to prevent monopoly.

And by monopoly, I am also referring to systems where there are a few big players that just don't compete against one another, or one where there is a big player and a few small but inconsequential players. All of these result in the same effect as plain monopoly.

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Re:AT&T applies to end obligation to service landlines in Ca... by simfree on Saturday February 03, 2024 @02:36PM (#39243938)

Especially with natural monopolies like infrastructure, there is no economic case to overbuild most power grids, water/sewer districts, Telecom infrastructure or natural gas networks regardless of regulation.

The rare times you see overbuilding there is always a scheme involved, whether it's Comcast's recent edge outs to appear as though they aren't bleeding internet customers, or government money incentivising an overbuild cause the current ISP didn't document that they serve a set of addresses.

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