The FCC exempted phone companies from having to lease lines to internet service providers. They did this by re-classifying broadband as an "information service", which was ruled not to be subject to line-sharing.
In the words of Light reading the FCC ruled that the physical facilities that deliver broadband, and the broadband service itself are indistinguishable and inseparable. The two things together -- the facility and the service -- are now called an “information service.” The “facility” part of that service can no longer be separated and called a “telecommunication service,” and as such can't be subject to common carriage rules.
The FCC is doing exactly the wrong thing to adapt to the change in telecom technology. Back when phone and cable were different from each other, there were two categories of regulation -- telecommunication services (phones) and communication services (cable companies) -- to regulate very different kinds of services.
Now, the network is the same. Internet broadband can carry phone, video, and any other kind of content.
* Broadband connectivity has a tendency toward monopoly. It is expensive to lay fiber, which creates the broadband connections.
* Broadband services are a hyper-competitive market, with low barriers to entry.
In order to increase competition, you'd want to treat the oligopolistic connectivity market separately from the competitive service market. You'd enable competing connectivity providers on the wire, to increase competition. You'd watch for signs of monopoly power, and regulate if needed. And you'd treat the hypercompetitive service with as little regulation as possible.
The FCC's response is backward -- they are squelch competition, by considering services inseparable from access.
Posted by alevin at August 9, 2005 11:07 AM | TrackBackI agree the FCC did the wrong thing here the phone companies should have to lease the line sby law since the internet is a public interest adn that since the world wars the government and telecommunnications industry have been holding hands and sharing technology with one another basically tax dollars funding AT&T and so forth. Our tax dollars payed for the lines to go up Imagine this our tax dollars pay for our roads ut then being able to drive on those raods its messed up.
Posted by: Jessica on August 11, 2005 08:41 AM