The Impossible Dream of Competitive Broadband Marketplaces In Unserved Areas

THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM OF COMPETITIVE BROADBAND MARKETPLACES IN UNSERVED AREAS
[SOURCE: AppRising, AUTHOR: Geoff Daily]
[Commentary] How can we get broadband into underserved areas? There needs to be some reform of how the Universal Service Fund and the USDA’s RUS program work. More focus needs to be put on incentivizing the deployment of broadband in areas that are unserved, where no broadband provider exists. But there are many thorny issues within all this, like whether the government should only subsidize the first provider to a market, or if they need to continue subsidizing new entrants to ensure a level playing field, or if they shouldn't be subsidizing anything at all. The most common argument for how to spur the deployment and improve the economics of broadband is that if the government stays out of the way competitive market forces will ensure the deployment of faster networks at a lower cost. But where this theory comes up short is in situations where a competitive marketplace is impossible as there aren't any competitors to compete. State legislators and regulators from rural states can't comprehend how competition is the answer when they can't get one provider to deploy, let alone multiple competing entities, in many of their communities. Competition is great and should be encouraged, but it’s simply not the answer for every community if our ultimate goal is the speedy deployment of broadband connectivity to every home in America.
http://www.app-rising.com/gdblog/2007/10/the_impossible_dream_of_compet....