Too Big to be Left Unnoticed: America's Uncompetitive Broadband Market

My theme today – what is going unnoticed. Simply put, we should pay more attention to the lack of competition in the provision of fixed broadband to homes and small businesses. As a general matter, we can expect people with only one choice to pay monopoly prices, and people with only two to pay the higher prices typically charged by duopolies. People with three or more choices typically pay less. Clearly, people who can barely afford to pay a competitive price, say, low-income Americans, are particularly vulnerable to artificially high prices. Some may be disconnected entirely if prices are above competitive levels. Remember we’re talking about millions and millions of American households, so any effects from limited competition spread far and wide. We’re in a time when there’s a lot of discussion of growing market concentration and the importance of competition. There may be more discussion of antitrust in next year’s election than in any since 1912. But separate from antitrust, public policy can promote competition.