OT - Cell Service - How They Do It in Europe

[James Knott]

Lennart Sorensen wrote:
> It seems strange that the phone market in europe is much better in the
> private hands (although roaming charges are insane and being looked into
> by regulators), while it was inefficient and expensive when it was
> government run.  In north america privatization seems to have made
> things worse in some cases, although not all.  It's not an overall
> improvement in many cases though.  For some reason competition doesn't
> seem to work out very well here.  It may just be the low population
> density that is the problem.  It costs too much to startup a nation wide
> service with not enough potential customers.
>   

For the most part, telecom in North America has alway been private, 
though a regulated monopoly.  Competition in the U.S. has had a much 
bigger impact than here.  Many services cost much less there, more than 
can be attributed to population density.  In fact, if you want a 
dedicated circuit from, for example, Toronto to Vancouver, it's much 
cheaper to go via U.S.  Even going across town is much cheaper in the U.S.


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