I think that you are missing the point when you ask:
"Who else has the backbone that could compete with ATHM?
When they are allowed access to the MSO plant, they all have the backbone. What they were missing was the last mile. Granted, ATHM if farther along with an architecture which is designed to exploit such a last mile outlet, but the others will come up to speed, as long as they have a need to. Prior to now, they didn't, because limited downloading requirements didn't push their hand yet. But given the opportunity to exploit broadband, they will gladly make the investments and the architectural adjustments. IMO.
The remaining issues which need to be resolved, also IMO, revolve around just how many interlopers can be supported, and under what use policies, before the last mile exhausts... if the MSOs don't bring fiber deeper into users' neighborhoods and make their own adjustments in their own headends and upstreams. Assuming that the MSOs receive an equitable level of compensation plus profit from this, then it should be a no brainer.
But if the expectation is that the MSOs will just roll over and absorb these costs, like the ILECs in many cases were forced to do in order to bring competition to their home bases, then I think that there are still some chapters that need to be written and reviewed before we put this one to rest.
Frank |
