General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The FCC Did a Lot More Than Just Approve Net Neutrality Today [View all]TexasProgresive
(12,155 posts)I worked in the telcom business for 37 years with some of that is outside plant engineering. The blunt truth is that the cost to extend fiber networks into rural areas whether aerial, direct buried or underground (in conduit) can never be recovered by user fees alone. The way rural people got landlines was a price subsidy plan mandated by the Federal and state governments that the most profitable subsidized the least profitable- So long distance subsidized local, business subsidized residential and all of the above subsidized rural. In addition REA brought phone lines to the farm.
The other thing is that the telecom companies were give a limited monopoly that was regulated to insure universal service. This means that service had to be extended to anyone who requested it. All this began to crumble with the deregulation of the industry. This is what they always wanted - to be unregulated and to do whatever they want.