Congress yielded to the demands of lobbyists in holding back measures to foster competition, particularly under the Bush Administration where providers had a field day. Not much has change, however, under the Obama Administration.
One critical move was a decision of the FCC in 2002 that high-speed cable Internet access would no longer be considered a telecommunications service open to competitors, but rather an “information service.” In 2005, the FCC also succeeded in reclassifying broadband delivered by the phone companies as an “information service.”
Congress has done nothing as one the the world’s most developed nations and one of its largest economies has fallen to 25th. We do however remain number one in the amount of money spent by lobbyists on legislators.
You can look it up yourself if you don’t believe me . . . just be prepared to wait a long time if you are using the Internet.
Source: NY Times