February 03, 2005
Local telco monopoly power
Real competition actually works. Judge Greene divided Ma Bell geographically back in 1984, and competitive long-distance rates dropped 95% in 20 years. So why haven’t local rates?
That quote is from Andy Kessler in a recent WSJ article. It's a good read. If you think about it for awhile, it might even make you mad. How could it cost $0.04 per minute to call from the USA to Germany, while it costs $0.22 per minute to call many places in the same state. (Incidentally, I recently received a notice from Verizon that they were applying for an increase in the toll rate -- up to $0.30 per minute.) It doesn't take the knowledge of an industry insider to realize that something is seriously wrong with telecom policy.
The story is also covered at Techdirt.
Posted by Doug Sauder at February 3, 2005 01:01 PM