Deregulation Doesn’t Solve All Problems
Feb 4th, 2008 | By Dawn R. Rivers | Category: Regulations, ResearchA recently released research report by Scott Wallsten, vice president for research and senior fellow with iGrowth Global, finds that unbundling rules alone do not promote broadband penetration and, in some cases, actually depress infrastructure investment. However, he also finds that rules that both provide new entrants with access to the incumbent’s infrastructure, while minimizing the disadvantage to the incumbent, are most effective at increasing broadband penetration. But that doesn’t completely solve the problem, because there are too many areas in the country in which there is little incumbent infrastructure for new entrants to access and that leaves too many residents of remote and rural areas without affordable high-speed Internet options. This would seem to be a situation in which those policy makers might turn to smaller companies that tend to have lower thresholds of profitability than the telecomm giants. But the challenge of finding investment dollars — and especially investment dollars for rural communities — remains.
