Who is to say we would be where we are today if these companies hadn't invested in their now obsolete hardware at the time??? It's easy to critisie this now, but would the internet have expanded so rapidly without their investment.
Would future network investment be made less attractive id this was the case. Apparently, "Moores Law" makes any investment depreciate so rapidly that all progress is futile.
As you mention, a good deal of the current infrastructure was laid by these companies and is currently being enjoyed by a much larger segment that had little or nothing to do with it. However, if government is going to pump money into the telcos, it should probably be with the expectation that the infrastructure will be upgraded to make it possible for the continuing deployment of broadband technologies by the companies who are actually trying to expand their offerings to consumers.
So we should reward them with welfare? Retire them on full pension? Because they 'took a financial bullet for prosperity' or some such nonsense?
You realise we're talking about corporations? Businesses. Legal entities. Not humans. They're not war veterans. They deserve no special loyalty simply because they were first or paid 'too much' for their equipment. Do we celebrate and subsidize the construction companies who laid the first interstate highways? Well, maybe, but not for that reason.
The owners and employees who started the telcos and grew them and maintained them have already been amply rewarded - they were paid while they were doing it and they got to see the value of their stocks grow. If they want more money, they have plenty of other options besides being subsidized by the Federal Govt.
Well, yes and no... (Score:5, Insightful)
Would future network investment be made less attractive id this was the case. Apparently, "Moores Law" makes any investment depreciate so rapidly that all progress is futile.
This so obviously is not the case.
By all means, prop them up. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Well, yes and no... (Score:5, Insightful)
You realise we're talking about corporations? Businesses. Legal entities. Not humans. They're not war veterans. They deserve no special loyalty simply because they were first or paid 'too much' for their equipment. Do we celebrate and subsidize the construction companies who laid the first interstate highways? Well, maybe, but not for that reason.
The owners and employees who started the telcos and grew them and maintained them have already been amply rewarded - they were paid while they were doing it and they got to see the value of their stocks grow. If they want more money, they have plenty of other options besides being subsidized by the Federal Govt.