A report in the Wall Street Journal this morning detailed the latest round of obstructionism from the telcos regarding Wifi rollouts sponsored by local governments. Their arguments basically complain about unfair competition and waste of taxpayer resources, both of which are absolute crap. Let's look at each of these.
Unfair Competition - Telcos used to be a monopoly, and then they got broken up. These days they are very close to being a monopoly again, except for the fact that they haven't quite cemented government regulation of the market yet. The barrier to entry has been the expense of the network, especially the last mile. These networks drive that cost to practically nothing. This is bad news for the existing business. That's a shame - live with it. This is capitalism. You fall behind, you get eaten.
Waste of Taxpayer resources - Most municipal governments are getting into this business initially to meet their internal requirements. They are finding that the networks cost a small fraction of the upfont costs and practically nothing to run. This argument smacks of the FUD that Ma Bell used to spread about the terrors of unregulated access to their networks. The reality is that communications is something you buy at a store, take home, and spend an hour or so setting up. This is not magic anymore.
Larry Mittag