End The Line Sharing, End The Competition?

from the seems-like-it-so-far... dept

The debate over whether or not regulations mandating that telcos share their data and voice lines always has both sides arguing that their proposal will increase competition. The FCC, under Michael Powell, has taken the deregulatory route, and according to one critic of the early results, it has decreased competition noticeably, and for that reason, Powell's programs should be considered a failure. As an initial assessment, the points are valid. There clearly has been less competition, but mandating line sharing doesn't necessarily make things better either. The removal of line sharing rules has at least pushed certain providers to look towards newer, better technologies, so it may not be possible to judge the results of these moves so quickly. Unfortunately, it appears that not many are willing to look at any kind of middle ground solution, that builds standardized networks which many different providers can share. Instead, we seem to get an all or nothing approach.

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