Re:Etsy CEO to Businesses: If Net Neutrality Perishes, We Wi...
by ianlevesque on Thursday September 04, 2014 @01:39PM
(#8269566)
Totally agree on all points. Personally I think local-loop unbundling (UK-style) is probably the only viable way to get more competition back.
It's weird to pine for the good ol' days of dialup internet, but when anyone could offer internet services over a common leased infrastructure (the phone system) there was vibrant competition.
Hard to do when anything and everything involving telecom is decidedly not free market. Just some larger obstructions:
* Zoning permits
* Getting permission to lay wire, even through private property
* Wireless Spectrum Ownership
* Zoning permits on broadcast towers
* Anti-competitive pressure through corrupt state institutions by incumbents against potential competition
* Absurdity of having a half dozen ISPs all running their own fiber lines under roads