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[lsanderson]

The Broadband Gap: Why Is Theirs Cheaper?

Broadband is cheaper in many other countries than in the United States.

“You have a pretty uncompetitive market by European standards,” said Tim Johnson, the chief analyst at Point-Topic, a London consulting firm.

Other countries have lower costs for the same reasons their DSL service is faster. Dense urban areas reduce some of the cost of building networks. In addition, governments in some countries subsidized fiber networks.

But the big difference between the United States and most other countries is competition.

“Now hold on there,” you might say to me. Since I wrote that many countries don’t have cable systems and the bulk of broadband is run by way of DSL through existing phone wires, how can there be competition? Aren’t those owned by monopoly phone companies? Link