Why Broadband Competition at Faster Speeds is Virtually Nonexistent

[Commentary] A large reason for the nation’s lack of competition at faster broadband speeds is the country’s phone companies, for whom residential broadband isn’t profitable enough, quickly enough for investors’ liking. Verizon, for example, has all but given up on expanding its FiOS fiber footprint to focus on making inroads in the wireless video and advertising markets. Smaller telcos, like Windstream, CenturyLink, and Frontier, have similarly shifted their focus toward enterprise services, and tend to only upgrade aging DSL lines in the most profitable areas. In many instances, these companies are so saddled with debt from repeated mergers and acquisitions, upgrading their networks at scale is now impossible. As a result, the nation’s cable broadband providers are running away with a greater monopoly over broadband than ever before across countless U.S. markets, gobbling up the lion’s share of broadband subscribers while the nation’s telcos hemorrhage frustrated DSL users at at alarming rate. This lack of competition is a major reason why more and more towns and cities are now building their own broadband networks. But that in turn is why ISP lobbyists have successfully passed protectionist laws in more than 21 states designed to stop that from happening. It’s a ridiculous cycle of corruption and dysfunction that shows no sign of abating anytime soon.