Competition missing from broadband plan, some say


The sweeping national broadband plan that federal regulators delivered to Congress last week doesn’t go far enough to satisfy some experts, who warn that the United States would still trail other industrialized nations in prices and speed, reports the Associated Press. That’s because the proposal fails to bring adequate competition to a duopoly broadband market now controlled by giant phone and cable TV companies, critics say. According to the New America Foundation, a 100-megabit broadband connection costs as little $16 per month in Sweden and $24 per month in Korea, while service that is only half that fast costs $145 per month in the U.S. “What I want is big bandwidth for cheap prices,” said Sascha Meinrath, director of the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Initiative. “But the plan punts on competition.” Many public-interest groups are disappointed that the plan does not recommend “open access” rules that would require the big phone and cable TV companies to lease their networks to rivals so they can offer services at their own prices. Because it is so expensive to extend lines to every home and business, they say, such obligations might be the only way to drive competition in many markets…

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