Cable Digital News finds a bit of irony in the fact that analysts from the same firms who often criticize ISPs for high "homes passed" financial numbers are now taking a $700 billion bailout to save them from their own, overly clever book-keeping. Crunching the numbers, writer Michael Harris notes that $700 billion could deliver fiber to the home to every single American, with enough money left over to outfit half of all homes for solar electricity.

Ok, sure, it's an apple to orangutan comparison -- and perhaps not valid because you're talking about saving the economy versus providing what many people consider a luxury service. Still, it's ironic to see skeptical analysts with their hands outstretched, eager for a deal they'd never approve were they objectively critiquing a telecom operator:In broadband land, the bailout is akin to a $6,250 per home passed upgrade, a number that would make most analysts pass out (and should). For reference, Verizon's costs per home passed to install FiOS is around a grand -- closer to $2.5k per home if you're picking up the tab for homes passed that don't subscribe to service. Those numbers have driven some analysts to argue that Verizon has gone mad, spending with reckless abandon in order to future-proof their network in the face of cable competition.

One wonders how oft-quoted Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett, who thinks even cheap network upgrades are ridiculous and unnecessary, would feel about a $6,250/home investment that may or may not actually work -- if the money belonged to an ISP and not United States taxpayers?