Dan Gillmor: Probably no Silver Lining

Dan Gillmor writes about today's FCC decision, saying that we can't count on intermodal competition to keep the ILECs down:

The Bells' dishonesty in this debate has been egregious, if unsurprising given their history. They continue to claim that they're forced to sell access to their copper lines at a loss. If this were true, they would be moving in on each others' territories, offering competing services. They haven't, and I'll bet they won't.

Maybe none of this matters. Maybe competition from wireless will break the power of the phone and cable monopolists. Or maybe municipalities and other governments and electric or gas utilities will start deploying fiber competitively. Nothing would be better for America than to see the Bells humbled, once and for all; they loathe any kind of innovation that threatens their annuity income.

But we are taking a big chance here. If the phone giants can leverage their power in new markets, we are going to be in for some difficult times ahead.