It is truly amazing how Verizon and all the other telecom companies can't get their act straightened out. The still can't accept the telecom is a commodity and that their monopoly over telecom is being diminished by alternative providers, i.e. cable and wifi. It is going to be priced as a commodity and if you force companies like Google to pay an additional fee to provide services upstream that the telecom customers on the other side (i.e. Google users) are clamoring for, and already paying for, you are going to choke the market and kill innovation.
Google, for all it's problems, has pushed innovation on the web and provided good services to users at a cost that is affordable (free in most cases). Microsoft, Yahoo, and thousands of other businesses have been forced to innovate and push the envelope because of Google, directly or indirectly.
The truth of the matter is that though they've been commodotized, the carriers businesses are more important than ever. They understand that companies like Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo are at their mercy and they're looking to extract a ransom for services that they're already getting paid for. Building out a fiber optic network is something that Verizon must do to stay competitive with other telecoms. Investing in your business is the only way to grow a business. Investments come in many forms and for a telecom company, it must come in the form of capital expenditures.
Rather than Verizon, AT&T and others getting permission from the government to effectively tax all Internet users and Internet businesses, Congress should be looking at the inefficient, beauracratic, regimes at these companies. Congress should force them to make themselves more nimble, innovative, and efficient or give customers choice in picking a different carrier.
Let's face it, Internet access in this country today is analagous to phone service in the 1950's. It was getting widespread adoption amongst all strata of the population and it was a necessary tool to facilitate communication, foster innovation, and grow the economy, thus resulting in inceased national security. Governments should focus on providing unrestricted access to the Internet for all citizens...and eventually the whole human population.
Wake up Verizon!
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