Mike, In the release, Earthlink, the ISP component, discusses their own exclusives which are facilitated by the larger Sprint. But I don't read where Sprint will not make links available to others, too. It's not clear to me, in other words, that they have thrown up a block against all others. Your interpretation on the matter may be correct.
[By the way, whatever happened to FON's ION offerings for both consumers and businesses that was supposed to transform the access universe? Do you recall that one?]
As to why others aren't squawking, yet? I suppose they'll first want to be sure that they want it. Translation: They'll first want to ensure that it works as advertised before they go after uniform treatment. The service may be "SO" spiffy that it may suffer an earlier than usual tradedy of the commons, due to the ease of installation... possibly far easier than truckrolling and pulling new cable for other alternatives. Which is one of wireless's key advantages. Who knows.
This is, after all, how MCI and Sprint made their way up the ladder twenty five years ago. Every time Bell Labs prototyped something (an improved DACS, a new T carrier terminal, an electronic switching machine), these two would sit in the wings waiting for it to become soup. As soon as it was, and as soon of one of Western Electric's competitors could stamp out a copy of the same thing after retooling their shops, these two were granted rights by decree to resell those services without ever spending a dime on R&D.
Their dollars were spent, instead, in Washington and in State capitals on lobbying efforts. Hey, whatever works, they tell me. And in many ways this is how it is today, only today the players have changed, and we're talking about Internet access instead.
FAC |
