In A Broadband Minute
Some notable broadband links from around the web -
- Indian mobile consolidation continues, as Hutchinson Essar gobbles up smaller rival, BPL Mobile. Expect Hutch to go public in the near future.
- Economist, a week after applauding the Skype-EBay deal, does a 270, and frets about Bubble 2.0
- Current Analysis says Savvis is turning around and will increase data center space in Silicon Valley. It is a sign o’ the times.
- David Sifry of Technorati fame, seems to have settled with his earlier effort, Sputnik, by giving them 20,000 shares, and $61,000 in cash. Woot! Some strange is going on….
- Scientific American says WiFi is getting smarter and more reliable.
- Everyone Wants To Be Like MySpace.
- Joe Weisenthal finds that networks have limits. Good… now I am not the only one who is talking about Metcalfe’s Law & Market Realities. Its been lonely eight months to get others to see my way.
- Why doesn’t Heartland Institute just give up and go away? They know, no one trusts their biased analysis.
- Mark Evans says the thrill is gone from Skype.
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Om, don’t know if you saw the story that Be are offering 24mb broadband in the UK for £24 per month…
See this Guardian story for more:
http://money.guardian.co.uk/internetcosts/story/0,12769,1578645,00.html
tom,
thanks for the link, i had this on sunday
Hi Om, appreciate your blog very much. Regarding the bit on the Heartland Institute — what’s the difference between a bias and a point of view? In fact, their analysis is spot on.
The state of wireless availability is a reflection of customer demand and economics, not a “failure”.
It is inevitable that muni WiFi will be more expensive (actual costs, not consumer price) and lower performing than the commercial alternatives.
Broadband penetration is growing at a brisk pace in *many* forms. Why mess with it?
Here’s more: http://orinsf.typepad.com/orinsf/2005/08/broadband_a_for.html
Cheers,
- Matt
Broadband growth in the US has grown at a slower pace than elsewhere in the developed world. Demand is related to price, and US price is 10x the price in Japan and Korea. Service in the US is provided by an oligopoly which is keeping prices high and supply constrained.
Market fundamentalist critiques of muni broadband leave out a few critical points.
* the Heartland Institute criticizes government supported broadband, but doesn’t criticize government subsidies for their incumbent telecom funders. After all, government spending is bad only when it goes to somebody else.
* Competition helps keep prices down, and US telecom policy is to reward the oligopoly.
* Some kinds of public goods are well-suited to goverment support. Libraries, local roads, and elementary education aren’t run for profit. Society has decided that these things are required infrastructure, and there’s a decent argument that broadband service is basic infrastructure like roads.