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Once Again, Telco Told That It Can't Stop Muni Fiber
from the how-dare-they-want-competition dept
Telco monopolists really are amazing sometimes. For years, we've been seeing them abuse their monopolies, offer poor (and expensive) service thanks to a lack of competition -- and then freak out, when they're actually challenged in the marketplace. And, of course, nothing gets them more worked up than the threat of some sort of "municipal" competitor. Time and time again, they go to court to block any muni-fiber offering, and time and time again they lose. The latest is TDS Telecom having its case dismissed in Monticello, Minnesota, where voters have approved a bond issue to set up a municipal fiber network. Such networks have been tremendously successful elsewhere.
TDS, of course, claims that it should be illegal for the government to compete with them, but they leave out many of the details. First, they have no real competition, because the government granted them a monopoly. So they're already in many ways the beneficiary of a gov't program. To claim that no one else can benefit from the gov't is simply anti-competitive and ignores the monopoly they themselves received. Second, since this is a bond issue, there's no taxpayer money at issue -- and the citizens of the town approved it. Finally, perhaps if TDS didn't rest on its monopoly laurels, it wouldn't now be facing competition. All this has made clear was that TDS failed to deliver what the town wanted, so the town got together and came up with a solution. Good for them.
