One of the mantra's of (telecom) competition authorities is that competition will lower prices and improve services.
Some economists (like the chief of the CPB (Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis) Coen Teulings) believe that "2 is enough" to create adequate competition, relating to the reality that cable and the phonelines (DSL) used to be the only options for the last mile to your home. Another option (a 3rd operator with fiber for instance) would not be needed to have a real market, therefore the market was not distorted, therefore there was no justification for any intervention.
GigaOM reports how the latest Pew Internet & American Life Project poll
on U.S. broadband trends shows that this assumption turns out to be false.
The other interesting observation is that DSL is still big but on its way out: cable and fiber will become dominant, reducing (in the long run) the number of options again. When fiber fulfills its promise and starts to leave cable behind the number of options will be reduced again.
A strong case for structural separation of the physical network and unbundling of fiber loops.
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