While the French were able to Unbundled rapidly and with great success, American companies failed miserably because major firms like SBC fought tooth and nail to narrow the market competition "Unbundling" for True Competition. They persuaded sates to allow high lease prices to competitors, which forced put companies such as Northpoint Communications and Rhythms NetConnections
On the other hand, just before 2001, French national telecom regulators forced previous state-owned monopoly France Telecom to allow others to use its network. This move for the benefit of consumers and innovation, allowed foreign and domestic companies, including Deutsche Telekom Italia and Telecom, to lease access from France Telecom's system at reasonable prices. This mandate forced France Telecom to work at improving its own prices and services, and hastened its launch as the first major telecom company in Europe to offer residential VoIP service in mid-2004.
Clinton's bright FCC chairman Reed Hundt says that when he began to implement local loop unbundling after the 1996 Telecommunications Act, A Wall Street Journal editorial called him a "French bureaucrat." "It's the worst thing they think anyone can be called," Hundt said laughing. "But the French must have assumed it was a compliment because they looked at what we were doing and copied it."
Strong Competition Leads to Innovation
Now, five years later, losing ground fast to the French, other Euros and Japan, the FCC switched strategies, to of facilities-based competition, but the French, stayed with unbundling. Who's laughing now?
The result of the French nurturing of competition seeing the citizens in a more catholic point of view, as the heart of their nation rather than sheep to be shorn, as the Bushites see Americans, the irony is that France's DSL rivals are now so profitable that that they can start weaning themselves off of France Telecom's network and building their own Telecom network which is also healthier for the nation, for competition and for defense.
Iliad, announced last year that it would start putting its new fiber links to subscriber in France, so did Neuf Cegetal (NEUF.PA), another broadband company. Now France Telecom is doing the following suit. The negative unmarketers of telecom offered the snide and non-visionary but all too typical Conservative argument that if newcomers could piggyback on the networks of the existing infrastructure, why would they bother to build their own, ever? Rosenfeld, Iliad's CEO, says, "We have such a high density of subscribers in certain areas of the country that it makes sense to own the network and not to rely on local loop unbundling" "Tomorrow we want to be totally independent." With this approach, Telecoms, French consumers and innovators all get the glory and save or make money, while American consumers pay through the nose. I don't, we dropped our cable, long distance, got our own VoIP service, saving more than $100.00 a month on phone services and negotiated our internet from $46.00 a month down to $17.99 a month.
And hey, since the Wall Street Journal joined the greed parade God has rained on them some more by serving the French. As American rail services fail in every possible, way, dirty, ill kempt, slow and bungling, a French high-speed train (TGV) has crushed the world record for a conventional rails train at 356 mph, beating the 1990 record of 320 mph.
The record run was made on a track between Paris and Strasbourg. The new record for Europe and the USA, by France at 356 mph, falls only 5 mph short of the World record set by a Japanese magnetic levitation train the Maglev, at 361 mph in 2003. The train boasted two engines at 25,000 horsepower, at a cost of $40,000,000.
President Jacques Chirac conveyed his congratulations on "this new proof of the excellence of the French rail industry. " Economically efficient and respectful of the environment, the TGV is a major asset in efforts to ensure sustainable development in transport!"
Guillaume Pepy, director-general of SNCF, added, "What is important for us today is to prove that the TGV technology which was invented in France 30 years ago is a technology for the future,"
China, South Korea and Taiwan are the most interested as clients for high-speed trains.
California is also considering the French system for a new high-speed service between Los Angeles and San Francisco, some have said.
The electrical tension in the overhead cable was boosted from 25,000 volts to 31,000 for the record attempt.
Take that Big-Mouth Wall Street Journal, tool of the robber barons!
Professor Bagnolo is a Renaissance man: Cultural Anthropologist, Architectural designer, painter, writer, novelist, theologian. As a child prodigy, abed with polio for almost two years, with an off the charts IQ, reading at the graduate level by 5th grade, offered an opportunity to skip three grades at age 8. Later He was a recipient of an Art Institute scholarship at age 11, a Ford Foundation Fellowship in Anthropology and in Painting and a merit scholarship in art, and was appointed a Graduate Research Assistant position in college. He holds a triple bachelor's degree in Painting and Drawing, Anthropology, Architectural Design Advertising. MA's in Cultural Anthro, Painting and more. After being tenured he taught; architecture, anthropology, Theology, advertising, painting and drawing, entrepreneuring and Creative Profit Making. He produced a star-studded Music festival, had a radio talk show in Chicago, and cable TV show. Now, retired from Teaching, he paints, writes, and pursues other ventures.
The above bio harvested from the comments of Deans, colleagues, students, clients and collector's.
That is what Clinton ruled that cable telecoms must lease cable lines at reasonable prices and while that happened, there was competition and low prices, and why the market grew and it was cheap. Then the Republican Congress changed al that and we have high prices, monopolies, and no competition, so we cancelled our cable and went out bought movies, put an antenna in our attic and watch only local stations and the films we bought.
The French have made it so that the big Telecoms also MUST lease cable at reasonable prices and it's working to the advantage of the customer and the companies are doing well also.
It is becoming a feudal economy, and we are the serfs/peasants.
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