Competing in the [regulatory] marketplace…

It’s usually rare to see companies seeking stronger government regulation, especially in the area of technology policy, where ‘light touch’ or deregulatory policies have produced the most social benefits, but in today’s FT Tiscali and Cable & Wireless make such a call.

It’s a very terse piece, but we can imagine the types of regulatory benefits these providers seek. But how much skin do they have in the game? In the U.S. broadband competition to the former local telephone monopolies came generally from the emplacement of new facilities by cable companies risking private money, not from the forced wholesale provisioning of existing facilities by regulatory fiat (which was widely regarded as a failure). The regulatory barriers that regulators such as Ofcom can usually most effectively knock down are those policies and procedures that limit the emplacement of new broadband facilities in rights of way and across rail lines, etc. - the types of policies Patrick covered in his March 22nd post.

I’m sure there’s work for Ofcom to do in addressing BT’s market power in broadband facilities, but fighting over one platform won’t help UK consumers/citizens in the long run.