Frontier's Bankruptcy Teaches Us About Why ISPs Don't Build Out Fiber

[osewalrus]

Because they don't want to spend the money, even if it would ultimately generate greater profit.

Really.

Why no one bothers to apply public choice theory to publicly traded companies is beyond me . . . Oh yes, it's because the people who use public choice people don't want to believe what it would show them. For profit entities are supposed to be single, unified rational actors.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/04/frontiers-bankruptcy-reveals-cynical-choice-deny-profitable-fiber-millions

Comments

[dsrtao]

It feels obvious to me that corporations are feudal power structures, with all the concomitant disunity that implies: the exceptional times are when a big bad external threat unifies them temporarily, or when a charismatic leader with an easily explained vision has early successes and can spin it as a win for all. In normal operation, counts and dukes compete for measures of success that are often zero-sum from their perspective, and command only as much loyalty from their barons as their self-interest allows.