> http://www.multichannel.com/article/452161-Competition_Not_Neutrality_Is_Key.php
Competition, Not Neutrality, Is Key By Bruce Kushnick 5/3/2010 12:01:00 AM A recent court decision ruled (with caveats) that the Federal Communications Commission did not have the authority over the cable companies Internet service provisioning, and the complications known as net neutrality (NN), such as blocking or in some way limiting a customers service. Unfortunately, NN is simply a failure of a market without adequate competition. Our focus has been dragged away from the real issue, the infrastructure. There are phone and cable wires in homes and businesses, etc. Those wires should allow someone to pick and choose the services over that wire, and if their Internet or broadband provider blocks or degrades their service, the customer can find another provider. Instead, there are only two providers in most markets with the same collusive conditions block all competition. You cant go elsewhere. Thus, even if the net-neutrality issue was cured by the FCC, the problems are much deeper and they would still continue to plague Americas broadband, Internet and phone customers. The underlying problem is that the phone and cable companies have taken control of Americas critical infrastructure . And under their control over the last 25 years, theyve failed to adequately upgrade the infrastructure. America is now 15th in the world in broadband, and now every plan is about workarounds of the incumbents or filling deployment holes left from the companies incompetence or, more realistically, greed over public interest. And it wasnt because AT&T, Verizon Communications, et. al. didnt receive financial incentives. The phone companies made massive commitments to rewire entire states, schools, libraries, etc., and received billions per state to do these upgrades yet, the work was never done. We estimate the companies already received $320 billion and counting, as the companies continue to get phone rate increases to pay for fiber optics and other services. Not only was the money to be used to upgrade the states utilities, the Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTN), pocketed by the companies, but just to show you how sleight-of-hand this broadband network discussion goes, AT&T is now claiming that there are really two different networks the old PSTN and the new shiny broadband network. In fact, AT&T has filed with the FCC to start to close down the PSTN. It claims it is a drain on broadband investment. Its absurd on its face because there is really only one phone network the PSTN , or state utilities and we at the New Networks Institute believe it has been hijacked illegally. It was the utilities that were supposed to be upgraded to fi ber optics. It was the utilities that were opened to all forms of competition by the Telecom Act and state laws and it is the utilities that are currently funding Verizon and AT&Ts new networks in the form of increasing phone rates. And yet, over 25 years, theres been a total failure to properly upgrade these utilities. The failure is clear; were 15th in the world in broadband for a reason and after 25 years of AT&T and Verizons rule, we sit here today and are bickering about net neutrality. Opening the networks in a traditional way will not solve the current problems. While the break up of AT&T in 1984 was to open the long distance markets, the Telecom Act of 1996 was supposed to open the last mile opening up the PSTN to local competition, Internet competition, in fact, even video competition. And while the Telecom Act giveth, under pressure from the phone companies, these networks were closed. But, the era of competition proved that the phone companies would do everything in their power to keep controls over their wires, so simply reopening the networks will not bring robust and sustainable competition. Maybe its time to give AT&T what it wants AT&T, Verizon, you keep the broadband networks, and well keep and properly finally upgrade the PSTN to what was already paid for fiber optic, very fast, reasonably priced, ubiquitous, open-to-all networks . Bruce Kushnick is executive director of the New Networks Institute. _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss
