[PLUG-TALK] CenturyLink becoming Quantum Fiber

[Ronald Chmara]

Cherry picking some of this to emphasize a point:

On Sat, May 6, 2023 at 7:38 AM Ted Mittelstaedt <tedm at portlandia-it.com> wrote:
> I think CL's profitable service....  I don't understand why they have priced their business fiber so uncompetitively but I suspect they may be required to do this because they are a "baby bell" AKA RBOC ...

Lumen (their latest rebrand) claiming that regulations are the
problem, while they are raking in money hand-over-fist, is a profit
strategy for them. They currently pull in2-3 Billion a quarter.

(Also, their network footprint is national, the RBOC's re-merged to
make huge monopolistic monoliths, because regulations failed to
prevent the original  problem from recurring.)

> I don't know what the status of regulation is now in the industry but POTS/lan lines are heavily regulated still because local governments see revenue communications taxes on them as moneymakers.

Maybe some of that, and also the profit-driving of monopolistic
businesses (with a thin veil of being "utilities") means that without
heavy regulation, service is garbage, product is awful, and pricing is
ridiculous.

> Instead [governments] want the unregulated cellular companies to build cell towers out in the sticks so that grannie can run her $1000 iphone off the tower.  The cell companies are fighting this.

For profit "utilities" have profit as their primary goal. So yes, they
will fight against doing anything that impacts/impedes maximizing that
goal.

They are not our friends, they do not care about grannie in the
sticks, and without being forced, regulated, controlled, they will not
act in any interest other than their goal.

> The whole thing is a mass of obsolete government regulations that redirect some of that tax revenue from some telephone companies to others, and companies use creative ways to qualify unregulated data services for the money and on top of that state and local governments are just flat out using communications tax revenue for their general funds instead of what it was supposedly installed for.

While claiming they are "over-regulated", monopolistic for-profit
utilities continue to maximize their profits, and minimize their
service.

I do agree the existing regulation is obsolete, it's not nearly as
heavy-handed, and controlling, as it needs to be to keep for-profit
communications acting in anybody's interests but their own.

> CL is likely stuck in the middle of that mess and has figured out how to make money on the local residential communications side of the house most likely by bleeding off communications tax revenue through a wide variety of sketchy mechanisms but whatever they are doing has caught the large business unregulated data services in a trap, and they can't make money on those and likely want to dump them.

I would say there is no "trap" for communications companies, they are
shedding tears on the way to the bank.

For the last 30 years (my adult memory) they have said "Oh, if you
give us piles of money, we will build out quality networks"... and
then took the money, and failed to deliver.

They have said "if you let us merge, acquire, and expand, we will
improve service for everybody", and then did not.

They have said "but competition is sooo haaard", and then increased
their sectional monopolies, and rapaciously expanded and profited.

I guess I'd summarize by saying yes, Qwest/CenturyLink/Lumen (because
surely the brand name is the issue, right? heh.) is operating in a
regulatory regime that differs from "cable" that differs from "cell",
but ultimately, they're all so lightly regulated that their profit
motives outweigh the interests of the people they have controlling
monopolies over.