Re: Joined up thinking..
Regulation, fixed wholesale prices and equivalence of access to Openreach’s network in the UK largely works and avoids cable price gouging and other difficulties.
Yup, and there's no reason why it shouldn't work in the US for muni networks. Many years ago, I had an interesting phone call and series of meetings with Milton Keynes council. Being a new town, and with US-style zoning, they had some nice infrastructure and were interested in a duct sharing/access arrangement. Which I thought was a good idea, but it was just 1 town in a global network, where at the time being 'facilities based' and owning the infrastructure was the goal. So sadly it didn't go anywhere, but made me a fan of muni-nets.
Which I think could be an opportunity now for the US piggybacking on infrastructure upgrades.. But with a lot of complexity given Federal/State/County/Town level rules & regulations. But the Internet often uses road analogies, so fibre along trunks, off-ramps and town err.. bus depots? Then have standards-based rules and agreements wrt fibre and interconnects, and call it good.
There is also competition keeping prices keen so Comcast UK (aka Sky) is a UK quad-play (TV, Phone, Broadband, Mobile) hero and not the scum it is in the USA.
Give it time? But also where encouraging infrastructure access worked. Comcast doesn't own much of it's broaband infrastructure, it leases that from other operators via LLU and backbone providers. Competition's then at the services level, and switching providers is mostly a software function, rather than waiting for new operator to dig up roads to lay cable. Which adds to the fun for town planners trying to do stuff when their roads are supported by 17 different operator's ducts.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
