Tele-competition
Religion & Liberty Online

Tele-competition

Following last month’s Supreme Court decision in No. 04-277, National Cable & Telecommunications Assn. v. Brand X Internet Services, which denied the use of established cable lines to high-speed ISP competitors, there might be a new addition to the broadband internet market.

High-speed internet access is now available in three main ways: via a cable modem, a DSL line, or satellite (this being by far the least common). There are advantages and disadvantages to each, but the Brand X decision solidified a cable company’s sovereignty to it’s own cable lines. This effectively reduces the pool of possible competitive vendors, since even if all three methods are available to you in your particular location (which very often one or more is not available), typically you have the option of only one vender per method.

But today’s Houston Chronicle reports on the possibility of high-speed internet access being made available through powerlines (called BPL, or broadband over power lines), perhaps adding a whole new set of competitors to the game.

And on a related note, check out the possibility that the Brand X decision confers the regulatory powers of the FCC in a radically new way to IP services.

Jordan J. Ballor

Jordan J. Ballor (Dr. theol., University of Zurich; Ph.D., Calvin Theological Seminary) is director of research at the Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy, an initiative of the First Liberty Institute. He has previously held research positions at the Acton Institute and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and has authored multiple books, including a forthcoming introduction to the public theology of Abraham Kuyper. Working with Lexham Press, he served as a general editor for the 12 volume Abraham Kuyper Collected Works in Public Theology series, and his research can be found in publications including Journal of Markets & Morality, Journal of Religion, Scottish Journal of Theology, Reformation & Renaissance Review, Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Faith & Economics, and Calvin Theological Journal. He is also associate director of the Junius Institute for Digital Reformation Research at Calvin Theological Seminary and the Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity & Politics at Calvin University.