You have to admit the old telco business model was genius. Get the government to pay for the buildout of infrastructure in as many ways as possible, then directly charge customers for the buildout, then collect monthly recurring revenue for decades without any upgrades.
Yes indeed, it was genius. It was also genius to persuade the government that CLECs were somehow "getting a free ride" using that antiquated physical plant while charging enough to drive nearly all of them out of business.
Then again, maybe it doesn't take real genius to persuade the government of anything. With enough money, the government could be persuaded that the sky is green.
I worked for Bell Labs and Bellcore in the 1980s. All that time the talk was of "fiber to the home". It's 2012 and I'm still waiting.
I firmly believe that the only way it'll ever happen is for municipalities to take the lead. Issue bonds to lay fiber everywhere, then lease it on a non-exclusive, full-cost-recovery basis to any and all interested service providers. They'll have to compete on the basis of service, not by having a monopoly on the transmission facilities.
This is exactly how we've always done roads, but we can't do it with communications because that would be socialism or something.
I seem to recall back in the 90s, pre-deregulation, there were large subsidies, on the order of billions of dollars, to provide fiber to the home with not one single deployment
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I remember Pac Tel (now part of AT&T again) deploying a lot of fiber out here in San Diego in the 90s, and then tearing it all out without ever using it. Apparently they wanted it off their books to cut their taxes.
Astounding. Almost like The Grapes of Wrath that we read in high school
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Then again, maybe it doesn't take real genius to persuade the government of anything. With enough money, the government could be persuaded that the sky is green.
I worked for Bell Labs and Bellcore in the 1980s. All that time the talk was of "fiber to the home". It's 2012 and I'm still waiting.
I firmly believe that the only way it'll ever happen is for municipalities to take the lead. Issue bonds to lay fiber everywhere, then lease it on a non-exclusive, full-cost-recovery basis to any and all interested service providers. They'll have to compete on the basis of service, not by having a monopoly on the transmission facilities.
This is exactly how we've always done roads, but we can't do it with communications because that would be socialism or something.
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Astounding. Almost like The Grapes of Wrath that we read in high school ( ... )
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