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It's Now Clear None of the Supposed Benefits of Killing Net Neutrality Are Real
Network investment is down, layoffs abound, and networks are falling apart. This isn't the glorious future Ajit Pai promised.
In the months leading up to the FCC assault on net neutrality, big telecom and FCC boss Ajit Pai told anybody who'd listen that killing net neutrality would boost broadband industry investment, spark job creation, and drive broadband into underserved areas at an unprecedented rate.
As it turns out, none of those promises were actually true.
Despite the FCC voting to kill the popular consumer protections late last year, Comcast's latest earnings report indicates that the cable giant's capital expenditures (CAPEX) for 2018 actually decreased 3 percent. The revelation comes on the heels by similar statements by Verizon and Charter Spectrum that they'd also be seeing lower network investment numbers in 2018.
It's not expected to get any better in 2019. According to analysis this week by Wall Street research firm MoffettNathanson, capital spending among the nation's four biggest cable providers (Altice, Comcast, Charter Spectrum, CableONE) is expected to decline upwards of 5.8 percent this year.
(Score: 2) by eravnrekaree on Saturday January 26 2019, @02:09PM
Because of cord cutting, revenue is also down , having less to invest. thats because companies like comcast helped subsidize the internet services with the pay TV services that people are dropping. Now people drop the pay TV services which brought in a lot of revenue and instead buy Pay TV from netflix, while still using Comcasts lines. It actually increases network load on comcast while reducing Comcasts revenue at the same time. There are two sides to many stories so this idea of "greedy cable company fleeces consumers for the hell of it" isnt always true.