MuniWireless

Gartner Group says structural separation will be inevitable in many countries where governments have tried, via unbundling regulations and accounting separation, to create more competition in the market for broadband services:

“Despite government moves (such as unbundling and accounting separation) to encourage competition and stimulate investment, progress has been meager in most countries. Regulators believe that continued vertical integration is the primary reason for this lack of progress and are increasingly seeking separation as a policy tool.”

The European Union’s telecoms commissioner,…

Viviane Reding, the European commissioner in charge of telecommunications will do everything she can to enforce functional (or structural) separation in the EU. According to this article in the NYT, the EU’s efforts to increase competition in the member states, by clamping down on the power of local telecom incumbents, has resulted in a dramatic rise in broadband penetration and in a few countries like France, lower prices and higher speeds. Here are a few excerpts from the article:

“We have…

Incumbent telecom operators in Europe are afraid of structural separation and the consolidation of regulatory power in the hands of the European Commission, as opposed to national regulatory bodies. What does this really mean?EU incumbent operators are afraid of structural separation, according to the Wall Street Journal, and the consolidation of regulatory power in the hands of the European Commission, according to the Wall Street Journal.

It’s no secret that EU telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding is fed up with the funny…

Structural separation is needed to keep the Internet from turning into cable TV. While everyone focuses on Net Neutrality, it’s not enough. David Weinberger argues that the carriers are testing new network infrastructure that would treat bits differently. Only by separating ownership of infrastructure from services can we guarantee neutrality.David Weinberger has written an essay entitled How to Keep the Internet From Going the Way of the Princess Phone where he argues that Net Neutrality is not enough. Structural separation…