| reply to fAcEtIOUs
Re: chip in some change? Where does Schmidt say the government should pay "his" costs? Google pays for it's transport now and it isn't asking for government to subsidize its transport costs.
Schmidt says that the problem is last mile access and that the government should be involved in making sure that all citizens have broadband access. This isn't a request for the government to pay "his" costs. Google doesn't own or control the last mile. They are not in the last mile access business. The cablecos and telcos control the last mile.
"The Deloitte report asserts there can't be a free ride"
Google does NOT get a free ride. You and I don't get a free ride. They pay for their transport needs, as do you and I, just like every other user and business does. If google needs more transport for it's growth it will spend the money it needs to buy the transport that it requires.
As for return on investment I think it is bogus to continue to insinuate that these companies aren't making a return on their infrastructure investments. Whether they are or not, however, is not google's problem. Capitalism doesn't guarantee a return. Google does not own and control the infrastructure and they are not under any obligation to guarantee that the ATTs of the world make a certain return on their investment. The investments that ATT and verizon are making are investments to get them into the video business. Why is google obligated to shoulder the costs of telco video content dreams? Why shouldn't the telco's video customers be shouldering that cost? If the costs of getting into the video business are so large that ATT can not recoup its costs through its video customers then it has a failed business model and shouldn't be in the video business.
Google video, unlike telco video, isn't demanding special privilege or transport on the network. It is treated as other traffic is treated so it is nonsense to claim that anyone who uses internet transport for video should be paying for the infrastructure upgrades of the telcos, who intend to use their upgrades to provide privileged transport for their own telco video. Again, their own telco video customers should be bearing the cost of upgrades for their telco video business. |
