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Here's How We Get Broadband Internet to Rural America (Op-Ed)
- cs702 7y agoMoney quotes: > Internet service providers (ISPs), such as Verizon, Comcast, AT&T and Charter [...] have deliberately restricted competition, kept prices high and used their armies of lobbyists to persuade state legislatures to ban towns and cities from building their own public networks. > ISPs have been able to get away with fostering pseudo-monopolies because they spend a lot of money to keep the regulatory environment and the conversation surrounding it murky. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a former Verizon lawyer, has been an effective agent for ISPs. He led the charge to dismantle net neutrality last year, and he has done everything in his power to stop municipalities from building their own broadband infrastructure. > Horror stories starring giant Internet companies are practically universal. In the wealthiest country on the planet, we lag behind many other developed nations in connectivity and speed, while also paying more for that service. That’s why companies such as Comcast consistently rank as the United States’ most hated companies by consumers. When you eliminate a competitive market and replace it with regional monopolies or duopolies, providers have no incentive to improve their service. The proposed solution is federal grants to enable electricity and telephone cooperatives, nonprofit organizations, tribes, cities, counties and other state subdivisions to provide broadband internet in their local markets, thereby creating competition for ISPs.
- bediger4000 7y agoSo does this mean that there's a market failure, or is this a regulatory failure? It's hard for me to accept the latter, given that ISPs and government have consistently said that no regulation is required, and in fact, have reduced regulation. I, and I'm sure other free market fundamentalists, find ourselves on the horns of a dilemma.