andrel wrote:
> The postoffice has an obligation here to deliver the mail to everybody. 
> (which is a problem if you allow competition at the same time because 
> the most obvious way to decrease costs is to deliver only in big 
> cities). This is the same sort of arrangement.

Sounds like the arrangement we had in the USA for telephone service before 
the monopoly got broken up.  "You provide service for everyone at a rate we 
set, and you get to exclude competition that would make you unable to make a 
profit at that rate."  Then MCI sets up long distance calls anyway, Bell 
sues MCI for violating their monopoly agreement with the feds, MCI 
successfully argues that with digital and microwaves it doesn't need 
centralized control any more, Bell Systems gets broken into AT&T Long 
Distance and the seven regional companies.

Then it gets screwed, because the feds say "the regional companies still 
have to provide service to everyone, but Bell also have to rent their 
equipment to competitors at the same rate as Bell pay to obtain it, and the 
competitors get to cherry-pick their customers."

Our post office has competition, but the post office is the only entity 
allowed to put mail in your mailbox (rather than, say, on the step or in a 
different box), and that's the only kind of mail valid for some sorts of 
stuff (like sending bills).

I think France had global service availability with Minitel many decades 
ago, too.

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   I ordered stamps from Zazzle that read "Place Stamp Here".

Post a reply to this message