Two years ago, Techdirt’s Copia Institute released a report discussing how open access fiber networks were a potential path toward boosting fiber competition in the United States. Such networks, sometimes community owned, involve collaboratively building a centralized fiber infrastructure that multiple competitors can come in and compete over.
In instances where this has been successfully achieved — like Utah’s Utopia or in Ammon, Idaho — users sometimes have the option of dozens of different fiber ISPs, which in some cases can be switched between with just a few clicks on a web portal. The projects lower the cost of market entry. The competition drives down prices, improves service quality, and generally results in better broadband access.
Understandably big ISPs like Comcast and AT&T didn’t much like that, and spent years fighting such projects knowing they threatened their regional dominance. But now some executives at AT&T and T-Mobile appear to have seen the light, with both companies striking new deals to build or participate in such open access networks:
“Once staunch opponents of open access, Tier 1 Internet Service Providers are now entering a space that, in the United States, has been pioneered by local governments two decades ago.
In the last year-and-a-half, AT&T has embraced open access through its Gigapower joint venture with BlackRock, the world’s largest money manager with $10 trillion assets under management.”
In this case BlackRock is building the network, and AT&T would be the “anchor tenant” (the first ISP to sign up for service). The about face for AT&T is fairly significant; the company went from fighting such network vehemently, to their CEO making the rounds talking up the benefits of open access.
The approach always made sense financially and developmentally; AT&T and larger ISPs simply opposed it because they didn’t want anything disrupting their regional telecom monopolies or duopolies, which allow them to price gouge captive customers trapped in markets without competition. AT&T’s opposition was particularly venomous when community-owned networks (municipals, cooperatives) were involved.
What changed these companies minds? They’re lining up to potentially obtain more than $45 billion in broadband subsidies currently looming thanks to 2021 infrastructure bill legislation. That money isn’t expected to start flowing in earnest until next year. The bullishness is great to see, but it will be interesting to see if it remains intact once AT&T (a company with a long history of making promises it doesn’t deliver on) has nabbed their desired cut of taxpayer funds.