Must–Share–Trench Rule

When a cable is being laid, other providers are allowed access to the trench to put their own competing cable.

Benefit: more competition in infrastructure Negative: reduced monopoly profits inhibit project spending.

Comments

R — 2010–05–14 12:28:43 EDT wrote

I'd be happy with this on principles, but i wonder how it would help compared to publicly owned infrastructure?

Current monopoly will just work together if they know that as soon as they bury a cable the other one will do the same thing next to theirs and don't have to pay for the opening/closing costs … This will probably just create another oligopoly and raise prices instead of creating real competition (i.e.: Bell / Telus 3G?).

dsampson — 2010–06–21 09:18:41 EDT wrote

I think much of this has to do with planning.

If road infrastructure is considered a public good and we pay taxes on gas to use them then maybe the trenches and conduits can become a simmilar infrastructure. This is also like sewer and water services.

For trnechhes (rights of way) and conduits in urbanized areas the local govt could own the right of way, open up access to who ever wants it, and they all share the costs.

Certain rights of way should be identified. perhaps we need to rethink our underground infrastructure and PLAN for addition of broadband when we fix repair onstall basic utilities.

ak717 — 2010–07–09 13:59:49 EDT wrote

In Norway one ISP allows citizens to save a few bucks by digging their own trench on their property. Well, it is one way to get the last mile done.

Norwegian ISP: dig your own fiber trench, save $400

twintowertwo — 2010–07–12 18:27:44 EDT wrote

Many Municipal Access Agreements contain wording to encourage telecom companies to share trenches with other telecoms. In my experience, even staunch competitors can be made to share the trench during the permit review phase by the municipality. Some guidance on this should be sent to the CRTC and FCM. It would be interesting to see if these two entities could agree on the wording. I think it would be possible, considering the narrow scope.