- It has been claimed several times this morning
that there's a "duopoly" and no third pipe exists (We think we exist,
therefore we do exist... We think.) Why aren't independent wireless
providers more prominent and more prevalent?
- Upstream issues
- Internet backbone operators
consolidating and merging; prices increasing
- It's getting harder and
harder for anyone but a telco or cable company to get bandwidth at
wholesale prices - especially outside urban areas
- Downstream issues
- Spectrum - Huge problems
with auctions, including "warehousing," hoarding, insufficient
granularity of auctions, timing
issues, large upfront
payments, abuse of
auction preferences and discounts, insufficient preferences for small
entities, use of "shell" companies as bidders, inability to finance
acquisition due to uncertainty regarding future value, and preemptive
bids
by entities seeking to forestall wireless competition
- Operational issues
- Legislation and regulations
now being proposed which will make us noncompetitive and/or prevent us
from managing our network so as to provide optimal service
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