 JTRockvilleData HoPremium,MVM
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD
 ·Verizon FiOS
| reply to neofast
Re: Put Up or Shut Up As it is now, you have no guarantee a private venture won't compete with you. I hope your business model isn't based on having no competition.
Competitors will distinguish themselves on many levels aside from price:
• reliability
• speed
• customer service
• "extras" (email, webspace, newsgroups, premium content)
Since you are operating with a profit, certainly you can excel in one or more of those areas. |
| JTRockville:
The problem with that rationale is that you're assuming that the muni project must also operate with a profit. If were both operating it the black, then competition will take place, and the customer will win. But most muni networks don't operate in the black, which means they can throw as much money as they want into the network, to drive the private companies out of business. And in the end all the customer gets is cheap internet in exchange for higher taxes, or maybe a higher phone or electric bill.
neofast:
Just watch out that your local government doesn't conveniently forget that you're there for a few months so they can justify taking on "The Big Corporations", by stealing all of your customers. And the figures are more like 100X the cost of a smartly done network.
Ok, let me hear the “They are profitable, it only takes a few years to pay off a 40 million dollar network by selling $20 internet” arguments. |
