Is Comcast a monopolist? You’d think so, given the tone of much of the coverage of the firm’s BitTorrent affair. And supporters of neutrality regulation often scoff at the idea that competition, not regulation, is the best way to prevent market abuses. But competition may be livelier than most people assume. This was evidenced by the “other” Comcast story in the news today — the release of its third quarter financials. The results, which were — according to most reports — disappointing. Of particular note was the drop in new subscribers for high-speed Internet access, coming in at 450,000, down from 538,000 a year ago.
The reason: competition.
“So what’s going on here?” ZDNet asks, and then answers: “Two words, Verizon and AT&T.”
In an article posted today, ” ZDNet’s Larry Dignon indicates that Comcast has been losing ground as its rivals have been gaining subscribers.
Yes, as argued by the Washington Post’s Rob Pegoraro, more competition is always needed. But the competition that exists now is more than a kerfluffle.
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.