Bloomberg is reporting that the FCC is considering requiring Verizon and AT&T to lease fast internet to rival ISPs. The proposal is backed by Cbeyond, a provider of Internet and data services to small businesses, and has the support of the Small Business Administration as a job creation tool.
This is interesting given the recent trend at the FCC to move away from common carrier-type regulation of telecommunications providers. The data services are indistinguishable from those of the cable TV companies, so it seems sort of silly to only require phone companies and not cable providers to share their lines. Cable and telcos are subject to separate regulation regimes because of their differing history and technological evolution, but both are becoming just data service providers with different legacy expertise. Hopefully the FCC starts to regulate them more consistently.
Allowing other companies access to the physical lines is a good idea. Telcos and cable companies insist that they will not have incentives to invest in the lines if they have to share. There is not a lot of evidence either way, but a system where consumers have one or at most two or three choices between effectively identical companies is not competition and is not good for consumers.
