Economic Findings Concerning the State of Competition for Wired Broadband Provision to U.S. Households and Edge Providers

69 Pages Posted: 31 Aug 2017

See all articles by David S. Evans

David S. Evans

Market Platform Dynamics; Berkeley Research Group, LLC

Date Written: August 29, 2017

Abstract

The Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice, in the course of considering mergers and acquisitions as well as other policy matters, have conducted detailed investigations of the wired broadband business, and the intertwined business of providing linear programming. This paper summarizes the economic findings reached by the FCC and the Justice Department and their implications for public policy. These authorities have identified two significant market failures based on empirical studies, reviews of company documents, and other evidence. The first market failure results from the fact that large wired broadband providers are bottlenecks between edge providers and households and therefore able to exercise significant market power over edge providers by restricting access to households. The second market failure results from the fact that the large wired broadband providers also own large linear programming providers. The evidence shows that the companies that have common ownership over these related services have the incentives and abilities to harm edge providers that compete with their linear programming businesses. To prevent making these market failures from worsening, the FCC and Justice Department have blocked mergers or imposed conditions on the merging parties. The FCC and Justice Department findings are relevant for considering public policy towards the provision of wired broadband services to households and edge providers.

Keywords: BIAS providers, broadband, MVPDs, competition in local broadband, access fees for broadband, net neutrality, entry barriers in broadband, linear programming, vertical practices and broadband, bottlenecks in broadband

JEL Classification: L12, L41, L42, L43, L51, L86, L96, K21, K23, L50

Suggested Citation

Evans, David S., Economic Findings Concerning the State of Competition for Wired Broadband Provision to U.S. Households and Edge Providers (August 29, 2017). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3029006 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3029006

David S. Evans (Contact Author)

Market Platform Dynamics ( email )

140 South Dearborn St.
Chicago, IL 60603
United States

Berkeley Research Group, LLC ( email )

99 High St.
Boston, MA 02110
United States

HOME PAGE: http://davidsevans.org

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
167
Abstract Views
1,251
Rank
322,583
PlumX Metrics