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broadbanderexpanderc
Anon
2005-Jul-21 3:00 pm
utility, need and moreIf broadband is a communication "luxury" than phone service is also a luxury. Communication is not a "need." I would say broadband is certainly as much of a "need" as phone service, television provision, radio and most uses of electricity (lighting, space cooling). That said, it is certainly a utility. As for those who argue "regulation ceases the spread," please read a bit on the deployment policies of Korea, China, Canada and Japan. When history is to be accounted for, regulation/limitation is necessary to promote penetration. China is particularly relevant to the United States as the geographic makeup of the country and the way the population is dispersed (rural areas vs urban areas, China does have a much longer population to the United States, but in the past ten years, a large portion of that population has become more concentrated in cities, imagine if LA, NYC, San Diego, Chicago, DC-Baltimore, Denver and Phoenix tripled their populations, hence the rural factors are still similar) is fairly related. Its true in a ground-level market, regulation kills growth, but when a market is sort of a bastardized head on top of another market's already built and consolidated body (telco industry), then regulation is needed to force the large companies to allow smaller companies to join the market and compete. History has a very important affect on the ability of the market to function.
Frankly, in my opinion, the sooner broadband gets deployed, the better, municipally funded or not. If a city wants broadband right now and its not there already, encourage them to build it and then sell the physical infrastructure to a third-party private or a young company that can network and grow to provoke competition with the already monstrous and lethargic telcos and cable companies. |
N3OGHYo Soy Col. "Bat" Guano Premium Member join:2003-11-11 Philly burbs |
N3OGH
Premium Member
2005-Jul-21 3:28 pm
Not to go off topic, but what is it with the proliferation of unregistered posts lately.
I noticed the unregistered tag no longer carries the poster's ISP info, and such.
Hey, BBR, it's time to do something about these unregistered posts..... |
BoogeymanDrive it like you stole it Premium Member join:2002-12-17 Wasilla, AK |
Why not join? I mean, your posts appear to be thought out and intelligent, and joining is free. You also get some perks after you've been a member a while. |