 nasadude
join:2001-10-05 Rockville, MD
·Comcast
| reply to pnh102 Re: Organization
said by pnh102 :... Unbundling was never going to work in the USA simply because the ILECs were not split among functional lines. That is, the company which owns and maintains the wires and facilities is a separate business from the companies that sell and support the actual service. that's no excuse for unbundling not working in the U.S. - unbundling didn't work because the ILECs didn't want it to work and did everything they could to keep it from working, including doing illegal things for which they were fined. That, plus support from their congressional "helpers" and the FCC in preventing meaningful oversight and enforcement.
The U.S. passed a law to encourage competition in the telecom sector, the incumbents ignored the law and congress and the FCC refused to enforce the law. The U.S. telecom sector is now pretty much an unregulated monopoly.
France passed a similar type law to encourage competition and the government made sure the law was followed. France now has competition and along with it lower prices, faster speeds and more services.
It seems pretty obvious to me that the U.S. had the right idea, just not the willingness to follow thru. And that's why I think the U.S. is screwed in broadband for years to come - it will be nearly impossible to gather the political will to do what needs to be done: separate the transport structure from content delivery and enforce unbundling. |