IPUrbia

Isen had a good writeup on the recent FTC Workshop on Broadband Connectivity, which illustrates well my fundamental dilemma with regulation: a monopolistically-minded industry that provides the basis for a much larger economic sector needs to be watched, but a government that is either increasingly inept, corrupt, or both is not the best mechanism for doing so. Simple question: I think everyone (except for the ILECs and cable companies that only give lip service to the idea) think that more competition is an essential, if not the essential requirement. How do we create more competition in telecom? That, my friends, is the billion dollar question, and one that is difficult in a market where the pointlessness of multiple, citywide infrastructure buildouts make natural monopolies the most economically effecient model. More on this to come in the next few weeks–email me your ideas.