[1684] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: The WEIS/AUPPERLE letter
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steve Simmons)
Tue Dec 10 20:22:44 1991
From: scs@lokkur.dexter.mi.us (Steve Simmons)
To: com-priv@psi.com
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 91 20:07:57 EST
In-Reply-To: <9112100448.AA13217@cantor>; from "BOURBAKI.MIT.EDU!drw" at Dec 9, 91 11:48:07 pm
>Here we get to the problem with "natural monopolies" -- since we don't
>expect there to be multiple mid-level networks for a site to choose
>from (like we don't expect multiple electric power utilities), we need
>some way to make sure that they are "reasonable" in the service that
>they provide.
Poor analogy. In the early days of telephony, there were multiple
companies serving the same area. They didn't interconnect well, and
it was solved by granting localized regulated monopolies. A monopoly
can provide more efficient service than multiple providers, but
is that really the route we want to see?
