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Japan Makes Unbundling Work
Faster, cheaper -- and leading to more innovation?

More Japanese broadband adoration, this time from the Washington Post, who explores the nation's growth as a broadband superpower. A nation helped in part by geography, regulators there have (unlike the United States) supported line sharing and invested in infrastructure to the benefit of consumers:

quote:
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The opening of Japan's copper phone lines to DSL competition launched a "virtuous cycle" of ever-increasing speed, said Cisco's Pepper. The cycle began shortly after Japanese politicians -- fretting about an Internet system that in 2000 was slower and more expensive than what existed in the United States -- decided to "unbundle" copper lines.

For just $2 a month, upstart broadband companies were allowed to rent bandwidth on an NTT copper wire connected to a Japanese home. Low rent allowed them to charge low prices to consumers -- as little as $22 a month for a DSL connection faster than almost all U.S. broadband services.
Unbundling has also worked for the French broadband industry. During that same time period, unbundling in the U.S. was scrapped by an incumbent-controlled FCC, resulting in the slow death of the majority of independent ISPs. Japan's broadband successes were also recently touched on by Bob Cringely, who argues that luck played a part.
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woody7
Premium Member
join:2000-10-13
Torrance, CA

woody7

Premium Member

hmmm.....

This is like beating a dead horse in this country. We will never see this at least in my life time. Here it is all about the money, not the consumer. Whenever I read about these stories I just sigh knowing it will never happen here. Just like all the locked phones that we get. Unless there is a change we are doomed. JMT

danza
Premium Member
join:2002-08-23

1 recommendation

danza

Premium Member

No surprise. Government in the US

does not have the best interest of consumers. They are all lobbied by the telcos/etc. while most of the consumers are ignorant and don't really care about their speed anyway.

kapil
The Kapil
join:2000-04-26
Chicago, IL

kapil

Member

Really?

Is it really a surprise that other countries are making advances by putting national and common interests ahead of petty greed, nepotism and politics? The whole time we're busy, umm, marching democracy into all corners of the world.

Japan may have lost the war, but since then they have owned our economy. Smart people...hit us where it hurts the most, our pockets!

Unbundling can work. It is a sound concept. The bastardized implementation of it at home notwithstanding.

jgkolt
Premium Member
join:2004-02-21
Avon, OH

jgkolt

Premium Member

Re: Really?

We are also Japans military support since the end of WWII so they CAN divert more time, attention, resources, and money into non security programs such as that.
soccerguy9
join:2004-06-28
Seattle, WA

soccerguy9

Member

Re: Really?

This was a regulatory change, forcing a private company (NTT) to open up its lines to competition. There's nothing in this story (or the original Washington Post article) about the Japanese government spending its funds to lay wire or fiber to promote broadband competition.

The FCC could do the same thing if it wanted to (or if Congress exerted enough pressure) in a matter of months.
Automate
join:2001-06-26
Atlanta, GA

Automate

Member

Re: Really?

said by soccerguy9:

This was a regulatory change, forcing a private company (NTT) to open up its lines to competition.
Only partially true, NTT is 1/3 owned by the Japanese government.
soccerguy9
join:2004-06-28
Seattle, WA

soccerguy9

Member

Re: Really?

A fair comment. Thanks for the correction.

Jodokast96
Stupid people piss me off.
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
NJ

Jodokast96 to kapil

Premium Member

to kapil
But once again, the big difference here is who paid for the lines in the first place. With government subsidized lines over there, you should expect to see a more open way.

jgkolt
Premium Member
join:2004-02-21
Avon, OH

jgkolt

Premium Member

Re: Really?

i agree just mentioning the gov can shift its military resources to somewhat trivial stuff like this. Granit i want faster internet speeds but the safety and security is number one in the states. They also have problems over their supplying the bandwidth the consumer demands. I'm playing devils advocate here bty.
skrupowies
join:2002-08-22
Bristol, CT

skrupowies to Jodokast96

Member

to Jodokast96
said by Jodokast96:

But once again, the big difference here is who paid for the lines in the first place. With government subsidized lines over there, you should expect to see a more open way.

It's nice to see that someone actually realizes and mentions this important piece of trivia. The government can do whatever it wants with it's own resources (which of course are ours to begin with) but should keep their greedy paws off what isn't theirs. Yes Verizon, AT&T, Quest etc are greedy but why shouldn't they be? After all they ARE in the business of making money and NOT in the business of ensuring free or low-cost internet to every man, woman, child and cow in the country.

Piggie
Just A Pig With A Computer
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Orange Springs, FL

Piggie

Premium Member

Re: Really?

Yeap, right or wrong, that little piece of trivia is the difference.

While I see capitalism force some technology faster and cheaper , seems in as many cases it allows companies to hold back and squeeze the last nickels out of a system.

And the latter seems to be becoming more and more of the status quo. Very similar to the 1880's and 1890's. History repeats itself.

T1 Rocky
join:2002-11-15
Dallas, TX

1 recommendation

T1 Rocky to Jodokast96

Member

to Jodokast96
said by Jodokast96:

But once again, the big difference here is who paid for the lines in the first place. With government subsidized lines over there, you should expect to see a more open way.
Wait, wasn't our copper infastructure wholly funded by the governmnt prior to 1985? Not to mention the $15 worth of line items on your phone bill today which the government "requires" the telcos to collect to maintain their network (which by the way the telcos spent literally hundreds of millions lobbying politicians to pass laws whereby the telcos are forced by the government to collect those fees for themselves!)

I have friends at AT&T who drink from the company cool aide and we debate how AT&T and Ed Whitacre have damaged the country by snuffing out telecommuniction development. If the telcos hadn't successfully lobbied the reversal of the Telecom Act of 1996 over the last 10 years then we could be just as wired as Japan.

But the media won't cover that story because it's not run a negative story about Verizon or AT&T when they are their biggest advertisers. Politicians aren't going to go after their biggest campaign contributors. So we continue in this cycle with no end in sight.

kontos
xyzzy
join:2001-10-04
West Henrietta, NY

kontos

Member

Re: Really?

Wait, wasn't our copper infastructure wholly funded by the governmnt prior to 1985?
Do you really think it was?

Scatcatpdx
Fur It Up
join:2007-06-22
Portland, OR

Scatcatpdx

Member

Much ado about Nothing

So far the man gist is a bunch of activist are search search for a problem to apply a govenment funded solution. I do not think there is a broadband here in America the market is responding well thank you except for less tan .001% who think we need government funded 100MB sot they have their game server and torrents.
Do get me stared about this bad joke of being a "broadband superpower"that designation and $1.35 will get you a shot of espresso at Starbucks.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

1 edit

1 recommendation

FFH5

Premium Member

Japan regulators have kept Japanese economy underperforming

regulators there have (unlike the United States) supported line sharing and invested in infrastructure to the benefit of consumers:
And it is also government regulators that have kept the Japanese economy underperforming for the last 20 years. Regulation also has a downside as well - a stagnant economy.

batterup
I Can Not Tell A Lie.
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Netcong, NJ

batterup

Premium Member

Unbundle this.

FiOS is coming and copper must die.

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
Netgear WNDR3700v2
Zoom 5341J

KrK

Premium Member

Re: Unbundle this.

said by batterup:

FiOS is coming and copper must die.
Tell that to someome who is 10 miles outside of town. Hell, tell that to people in major cities under AT&T's control.

FIOS is coming. Yeah, probably right after the Sun explodes.

Fox McCloud
Crazy like a fox.
join:2006-07-23

Fox McCloud

Member

Re: Unbundle this.

said by KrK:

said by batterup:

FiOS is coming and copper must die.
Tell that to someome who is 10 miles outside of town. Hell, tell that to people in major cities under AT&T's control.

FIOS is coming. Yeah, probably right after the Sun explodes.

I think what he meant is that "fiber is coming" and "copper must die". This, I believe is the truth; after all, when copper becomes more expensive than fiber, I very much doubt the telco's will continue to use copper. It'll probably start with the small, independent telco's (like the ones that only cover 1-2 towns/cities) first, since they're going to be more for saving a buck than the big-boys are...then it'll trickle down to the largest independent telco (Embarq)...from there, the major players will have to follow or be far behind the rest of the nation in providing adequate bandwidth.
ltjordan
join:2001-12-02
Hyattsville, MD

ltjordan

Member

Re: government doing something for the people.

Is this really a surprise to anyone? Everyone knows that the American government is really a front for big business.