Telecom Trends

DSL Extreme is an ISP operating in the US with a business model that is not unlike many of the members of CAIP. In fact, the director of the Canadian operations of its parent company (Ikano) is a signatory to the CAIP answer [ pdf, 555KB] to the high speed Cabinet appeals.

DSL Extreme is especially noteworthy because it has succeeded in negotiating wholesale access to Verizon's FiOS network.

It is important to consider that in the US, next generation carrier networks are not regulated by the FCC. So, DSL Extreme didn't get access to Verizon's network because of a regulatory order; it was good ol' fashioned negotiations across the table.

So let's take a look at what Ikano said [ pdf, 78KB] in signing the coalition submission, opposing Bell and TELUS asking for the government to back off regulation of investment in next generation access facilities:

If granted, the Bell and Telus petitions will limit competition and customer choice for residential customers of high speed Internet services as well as various bundled voice and data services (including video and IPTV services) to, at best, the duopoly that exists today between the phone companies and the cable companies.

It is interesting to reconcile this statement against what Ikano's US affiliate has found to be true: that it is quite possible to negotiate access to even better facilities than what is being sought in the Canadian regulatory arena. DSL Extreme is able to serve all-fibre customers.

More evidence that free markets work.

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Ikano, DSL Extreme, Bell, TELUS, Cabinet, CRTC