[Chapter-delegates] Proposed law to ban Skype in Russia?

[Patrick Vande Walle]

Fred Baker wrote, On 16/8/09 03:14:
> It's not a new behavior; a number of monopoly telecoms have had their
> respective governments outlaw internet-based competition. It's easier
> than having a competitive product.
Except it is not always possible to have a competitive product,
depending on local economic circumstances. Most telcos these days do not
make much money out of local calls. They typically make profit on the
international calls and mobile phone roaming charges, if they offer such
a service.

If they are losing much of their income  due to Skype or  similar
services, their existence is in danger. It would be very bad for any
country if the telecom operators went bankrupt or at least had to scale
down their operations to match their income. They would no more be able
to invest in upgrading their network, for broadband Internet access, for
example.  We still need the reliability of the fixed network for
emergency calls.

So, what looks at first sight like healthy competition may result in a
bigger damages if we do not handle cases with nuances.

-- 
Patrick Vande Walle
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