Not so fast! I get
that the initial winners will be the [small and new] content providers who won’t
be at risk of being disadvantaged by ISPs in the allocation of broadband
facilities. I get that the initial
losers will be the ISPs who might have wanted to extract higher rents from larger
content providers for faster, uninterrupted transmission and now won’t be able
to. I get that, as consumers, we think
we will be better off because our cable/broadband bill shouldn't go up in the
absence of these fees.
But, are we in la-la-land?
With more content going over fixed capacity in markets with very limited
or no competition, someone has to pay up and that collective someone is us. The inevitably higher price of broadband will
force some of us to cut the cable cord to pay for it. Maybe that is the only way we become better off!
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