Telecommies

Some people might ask, ‘Well, at $500 a share, why can’t Google pay for special treatment?’ The reality is that at $500 a share Google can afford to pay. Yet the reality is that this is precisely the wrong question to ask. Instead, the question is whether Larry Page and Sergei Brin — the two young founders of Google — could have paid when they were mere grad students launching their idea. (Betanews)

-Congressman Markey (D-MA) rationalizing his bill to regulate the internet last week

Good news congressman, web hosting is way below $500… on the downside, unlike your bill, the internet still requires a good idea.

For more, see Reason’s More Net Neutrality Nonsense.

Massachusetts courts may close a property tax loop hole for the telecommunications industry, specifically regarding poles and wires over public property. Local officials are delighted with this new taxation target. The problem is, 5,000 other businesses benefiting from this same loop hole would remain unaffected.

The expanded tax would supplement pre-existing property taxes paid for such utility lines stretching over private land.

Ironically electrical lines, virtually identical in nature, enjoy no such loop hole. They must pay comprehensive property taxes over all land. However poles and wires for these traditional utility lines are instead, exempt from sales taxes.

Verizon’s pinned down by state regulations in Maryland, Virginia, and New Jersey. Existing telecom regulations leave Verizon unable to compete with Comcast for internet service.

While modern, cost-conscious, consumers move their home phone service over to internet carriers, Verizon suffers. Why? Traditional phone providers are heavily regulated in these states, while internet service isn’t. Functionally, Verizon is limited strictly to traditional phone service, even as phone service moves online. The Baltimore Business Journal explains:

The Maryland Public Service Commission oversees basic public utilities, including phone services. Under state regulation, Verizon needs state approval for rate increases or the addition of new services. But states like Maryland have no authority over cable and Internet or wireless phone providers, which are monitored by the federal government.

By rolling its phone services into packages that give consumers cable and Internet or by providing phone service through an Internet connection, Comcast and Vonage avoid state oversight.

This means, for example, Verizon can’t do one of those popular high-speed internet and phoneThese backwards rules hurt both the provider and the consumer. A Verizon Maryland spokeswoman commented:

“It’s time our state moves forward by bringing telecommunications regulation up to speed with the market,… [It’s] a market where most competitors face little to no regulation.”