Officials Point To Broadband Challenges

OFFICIALS POINT TO BROADBAND CHALLENGES
[SOURCE: Technology Daily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
Assistant Attorney General Thomas Barnett, the head of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, painted a rosy picture of the U.S. voice, video and high-speed Internet markets at an agency symposium on the ever-changing industries -- but he acknowledged challenges that must be addressed. Cross-platform competition, such as telephone companies offering video and cable companies offering phone service, has "clearly benefited consumers" by giving them more choices and lower prices, Barnett said. But that innovation came at a price. According to Standard & Poor's, wireless carriers invested more than $23 billion in build-outs in 2006; a pair of companies offering fiber-optic services reported spending $25 billion during the same period; and the cable industry invested more than $12 billion. Barnett's office is concerned with impediments that could stymie competition and slow further expansion. Some barriers are technological, some are economic, and others are regulatory, he said.
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/2007/12/officials_point_to_broadband_c.html