[TriLUG] TWC "Existing Customer Promotion"

[Heath Roberts]

It's difficult (at least for me personally) to imagine how TWC could shift
more toward rent-seeking, and I think sponsoring your own bills in the
Legislature is pretty darned effective regulatory capture.

I wouldn't call them an ISP, though. Or at least that's not the business
area that brings up the concern. The area of concern, I think, is as an
operator of the last-mile network. One of the problems with TWC is that
they're operating in many business areas (content, transit, last-mile,
telephony, ISP) and trying to avoid being regulated in any of them.

I think we might need a new Judge Greene and MFJ, splitting TWC's business
into its various components (mostly separating the 'local loop' from other
bundled services). Of course, the traditional telephone industry has mostly
re-consolidated, and not in a way that seems much better for consumers than
it was before 1982. I suppose long distance is effectively free now, but
having a phone still costs about $50/month, and is likely to be less
reliable and have poorer voice quality.

On Mon, Mar 17, 2014 at 10:57 AM, Aaron Joyner <aaron at joyner.ws> wrote:

> This thread seems to have drifted primarily towards concern over the Rent
> Seeking and Regulatory Capture behavior of ISPs.  If we treat internet
> service as a utility, which implies we regulate a single monopoly provider
> or have the state provide internet service directly, do you think there
> will be more Rent Seeking behavior, and a higher likelihood of Regulatory
> Capture, or less?
>
> Background reading:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture
>


-- 
Heath Roberts
htroberts at gmail.com