Quote:
Originally Posted by photon
There is a question of is the CRTC allowing a monopoly (or whatever you call a monopoly of a few companies), but what's stopping a new ISP coming into Calgary and offering a new product (not one using infrastructure leased from an existing ISP)?
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An oligopoly. The thing is, an oligopoly already existed and the CRTC's decision simply reinforced it. The reason that the large ISPs are forced to allow independent ISPs to use their infrastructure is to encourage competition, now the only viable competition has been limited by the same decision.
The barriers of entry for a new ISP are simply too large for a start-up to manage. The investment in infrastructure is prohibitive and the only companies that could take such a thing on are either in bed with each other (for example, Rogers and Shaw have a pact not to offer cable and internet in each others territories), or they are from outside of Canada. Foreign ownership regulations mean that we won't be seeing any competition from south of the border anytime soon.
So the CRTC leaves a small slice to independents and then bows to pressure from the big guys to restrict it further. The CRTC props up an oligopoly while preventing new, real competition from entering the market. And as a consumer, your choice is already made for you - bend over and like it.