[10352] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Telecommunications Competition Act
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Russell Nelson)
Sat Feb 19 08:34:32 1994
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 1994 09:41:47 EST
From: "Russell Nelson" <nelson@crynwr.com>
To: com-priv@psi.com
The Telecommunications Competition Act is good and it's bad.
It's good because it mostly deregulates companies. It's not being
proposed in a vacuum -- it proposes to remove the current
restrictions on local loop competition. In place of chaos or
anarchy, it imposes an interoperability requirement. One of the
reasons the Bell System was created was because many early telephone
systems were non-interoperable.
It's bad because it still regulates companies. It imposes
restrictions that may actually curb competition (relative to no
regulation at all). It contains requirements that may apply to
private carriers that never intended to offer public access in any
case. It may reduce innovation by requiring technology sharing.
And, by imposing a minimum level of service, it increases costs for
everyone and removes the choice of the lowest possible cost but
non-interoperable network.
It *may* be good enough. The best is the enemy of the good.
--
-russ <nelson@crynwr.com> ftp.msen.com:pub/vendor/crynwr/crynwr.wav
Crynwr Software | Crynwr Software sells packet driver support.
11 Grant St. | +1 315 268 1925 (9201 FAX) | Quakers do it in the light
Potsdam, NY 13676 | LPF member - ask me about the harm software patents do.
