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Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the ISP monopolies in the US all/mostly the result of government monopoly protection/non-compete agreements with cities? Wh
by daniel-s 6y ago
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the ISP monopolies in the US all/mostly the result of government monopoly protection/non-compete agreements with cities?
When governments grant monopolies the consumers get screwed. There's nothing new or mysterious about this.
- Teknoman117 6y agoYou are correct - but also note government in this case also includes city, county, and state governments, not just the federal government. If you ignore the cases in which a town has granted a monopoly to any given provider, we also have many cases where the ISPs own the poles the lines are on, or own the underground cable channels. They are not required to provide a way to buy or rent space on the poles or in the underground channels. You end up in a situation where any upstart competitor has to duplicate the entire infrastructure in order to begin competing. It's one of the reasons the ISPs have been super freaked out by the high bandwidth microwave links (AirFiber for instance), because it significantly reduces the cost of establishing baseline service. I'm fairly envious of the European countries that forbid ISPs or cell providers from owning (or at least having a monopoly on) the infrastructure (such as poles, cell towers, underground channels, etc.)