A Radical Thought

About twelve days ago there was an article in the New York Times about the cost of the Internet, TV and phone (including long distance) in the USA. The columnist pointed out that the cost of this bundle in France was US$30 per month. This was because they share the infrastructure and there is much competition. He was complaining of the high cost in the USA. He should check it out in Canada! We have far less competition in this area and less sharing of the costly infrastructure. The various companies are laying their own infrastructure and / or minimally sharing it. This has duplicated costs and created much redundancy. So generally I would be against government getting involved in this fashion, but I´m thinking this is a case where it would be for the greater good for government to nationalize the infrastructure, to have it run either by government or an efficient entrepreneurial third party, and make it available to all the service providers. The cost of infrastructure would thus not be a barrier to entry into the market. We could have more competition and lower cost. Wider access would be a huge benefit to education, business, Canadian society and our economy generally.