Friday, August 17, 2012

US DOJ just barely preserves competition between Verizon FiOS, cable

US DOJ just barely preserves competition between Verizon FiOS, cable:





But probably not where you live.





When Verizon Wireless announced a $3.6 billion purchase of wireless spectrum from a group of cable companies, numerous antitrust concerns were raised. T-Mobile tried to block the deal out of fear that Verizon would unfairly dominate the race to LTE. But it turned out the biggest concerns had to do with whether Verizon and the cable companies were wheeling and dealing in a way that eliminates competition for home Internet users between Verizon FiOS and cable.
Verizon Wireless’s purchase of airwaves comes from SpectrumCo, a consortium dominated by Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks. But there was also a side deal between Verizon, those three cable companies, and Cox Communications, consisting of “a series of commercial agreements that require the companies to sell each other’s products and create an exclusive technology research joint venture,” in the Justice Department’s words. The fear was that the deal was basically an agreement not to compete for Internet users in each other's territory.
Today, US officials allowed the Verizon Wireless spectrum purchase and joint selling agreements to go forward—but it is imposing key limitations on the commercial agreements aimed at preserving Verizon FiOS as a real alternative to the cable companies’ video and broadband products. The concessions mainly target areas in which FiOS has already been built out. In areas where Verizon hasn’t yet built FiOS, it can simply re-sell its competitors’ cable products.
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