[9880] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: bill text draft 2: Telecommunications Competition Act (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jeffrey Sterling)
Tue Jan 25 14:31:48 1994
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 1994 11:09:58 -0800 (PST)
From: Jeffrey Sterling <jeffgs@netcom.com>
To: Clay Shirky <clays@panix.com>
Cc: bzs@world.std.com, horn%temerity@leia.polaroid.com, com-priv@psi.com,
In-Reply-To: <199401251447.AA05147@panix.com>
On Tue, 25 Jan 1994, Clay Shirky wrote:
> > > For example:
> > >
> > Industry: Interactive Multimedia
> > Major Companies: BellAtl/TCI, USWest/TimeW, ATT/MCc
> > Total Market Share (US): I dunno, around 85%?
>
>
> Barry is right; there isn't a core set of monopolistic industries in
> interactive multimedia, nor is there one anywhere in the telecomm
> industry.
US West and Bell Atlantic have monopolies for local exchange services
over large portions of the US. How do you proposed to deregulate those
services and allow for direct competition?
TCI and TimeWarner have monopolies for cable services over large portions
of the US. How do you propose to deregulate those services and allow for
direct competition?
Since Bell Atlantic/TCI market territory has a resembelance to US
West/Time Warner territory, is the best we are going to get in regards to
competition a duopoly?
> You seem to be engaging in generic anti-business rhetoric, right down to
> using vague phrases like "large regulated megacorporations" and making
> sure we know you're all worked up by ending your post with three exclamation
> points. However, to my mind it undermines your point to see you posting
> this argument from a .com provider. The history of commercial dial-up
> access to the internet is the best counter-argument to the kind of regulatory
> atmosphere you suggest creating, since it has flourished in a few short
> years and every year service and user base goes up and cost goes down,
> in a very unregulated environment. In fact, the bottleneck to moe rapid
> expansion is often the most regulated aspect of any dial-up industry, the
> local telco's.
My point exactly the major reason for the commercial growth in the
Internet is due to competition in the long distance market, because it is
deregulated and interconnected ala CIX. I'm not anti-business, I'm
procompetition. The CNAPs paradigm is an attempt to introduce the
interconnected network approach into the local loop for telco and cable
provider's not just for data but for voice and video as well.
If you believe the local telco and cable loops should be deregulated for
vice, video, and data, please propose your method of getting from here to
there that preserves open network architecture for TV set tops and open
access to the net.
Jeffrey Sterling
Voice 206 368 7679
jeffgs@netcom.com
