Competition/Antitrust

Google has agreed to pay the Louisville Metro Government $3.84 million over the next 20 months to repair the damage caused to the city by its ill-fated Google Fiber service. The money will be used by local authorities to remove the company’s infrastructure from the city’s roads and to repave areas where needed after the service ceased operation April 15.

The surprising role of the rural co-ops in providing high-speed internet mirrors an important chapter in US history, and sheds light on the financial challenges of connecting rural America, where residents say the lack of high-speed internet makes them feel left behind. After hearing requests, the Tri-County Rural Electric Cooperative in Mansfield (PA), surveyed its members to see if they wanted the co-op in the broadband business. The response was a resounding yes.

A Q&A with Harvard professor Susan Crawford. 

Nearly half of the US population (45%) lacks access to a low-price wired broadband offering, according to a new broadband affordability report from BroadbandNow, the organization that maintains a detailed database of broadband offerings throughout the US. The research also showed that people in rural areas pay higher prices and that, ironically, people in areas with higher average income pay less for service. Other key findings from the BroadbandNow research:

From Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Santa Monica, California, hundreds of communities in the U.S. have been able to provide consumers and businesses with affordable broadband over locally owned and controlled fiber and coaxial networks. But San Francisco, the epicenter of the digital revolution, can’t match the success of these smaller municipalities, many with far fewer resources and civic wealth. San Francisco is not alone.

Benton Foundation Senior Fellow Jonathan Sallet's remarks at the Federal Trade Commission's hearing on Consumer Protection Issues in US Broadband Markets:

As the Federal Trade Commission considers the actions it can take to further broadband competition, I believe that it should consider three important points:

The issue of overbuilding got a lot of attention in a Senate Communications Subcommittee hearing on "The Impact[s] of Broadband Investments in Rural America." Overbuilding existing commercial service with government money has long been one of Internet service providers biggest issues with how government broadband subisidies are administered. Subcommittee Chairman John thune (R-SD) said with both the US Dept of Agricutlure and Federal Communications Commission providing broadband funding, he could see how the money could be "inadvertently used" to overbuild. He asked whether Congress should

In recent years, and in line with European Commission plans, telecommunication operators have been facing the need to deploy high-speed, fiber-based infrastructure. What is the socio-economic impact of these new investments on growth and local development? What are their effects on the labor market outcomes, in terms of firm productivity and entrepreneurship? What is the role of regulation and competition in spurring the deployment and the adoption of ultra-fast broadband networks?

City politicians and technology leaders pitch Buffalo (NY) as a nascent tech hub, envisioning a rosy future where every child owns a laptop and geeks flock downtown with their edgy startups. But the city may face a major obstacle before this grand vision even gets off the ground: Its internet speeds rank among the country’s slowest, according to two separate analyses by The Buffalo News and the technology firm Ookla. Ookla’s Dec internet-speed report ranked Buffalo’s speeds fifth-last, ahead of only Cleveland (OH), Toledo (OH), Memphis (TN), and Laredo (TX).