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| reply to Metatron2008
Re: Standard Government Intrusion Result said by Metatron2008:It's the same thing as limiting one cable company and one dsl company to an area. What he's saying is the truth. It's forced monopolies/doupolies, although you can't blame the fcc itself for them, you can blame the lobbyist and politicians who take bribes in the fcc... who is limiting to one cable company and one dsl company in an area? It's not the FCC.
there is one cableco and one telco in each area because that's what the companies agree on - they have divided up into geographic regions and don't compete against each other.
part of this has to do with the original monopoly grants because access to public rights of way were required. the 1996 telecom act was supposed to fix this and it worked for dial up, but was never enforced for broadband and the incumbents just ignored the law and paid the fines when they got caught. Now the FCC just pretends there is competition and has done away with almost all line sharing and said no line sharing for fiber. As you say, FCC and gov at the time were (and probably still are) wholly owned subsidiaries of the telecom industry.
then you got Brand X, where SC said cable didn't have to share their lines and voila! instant cable broadband monopolies.
so yeah, FCC and congress aren't doing their jobs for consumers, but nobody is "forcing" monopolies/duopolies except the companies themselves. | |
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| said by nasadude:so yeah, FCC and congress aren't doing their jobs for consumers, but nobody is "forcing" monopolies/duopolies except the companies themselves. Concur. There are firefighters at every fire, but does that mean firefighters cause fires?
Limitations on competition are:
1. High barriers to entry: Cost of spectrum, infrastructure.
2. Front-end hooks (subsidized phones) draw the unsuspecting into the noose. The price to switch is too high.
3. Network effect: Somebody using an iPhone app cannot find any equivalent for Blackberry et al. So they are stuck with AT&T.
Any time there is a limited resource, concentration of capital, and high barriers to entry, the incumbent operator tends to have the power. Customers have none. Regulation by legislators or the administrative branch will be fought by the incumbent's lobbyists.
Incumbents, beholden to investors, must do everything they can to maximize profits. Little changes due to the outsized and ultimately corrupting influence of incumbent lobbying.
Eventually, if the right prosecutor comes along at just the right time in the election cycle, a suit might sneak through that brings about real change.
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