----- Original Message -----
From: "Owen DeLong" <owen@delong.com>
In my neighborhood, Comcast has a monopoly on coax cable tv and HFC internet services. There are no regulations that support that monopoly. Another company could, theoretically, apply, receive permits, and build out a second cable system if they wanted to. However, the population density is such that even if that company captured 50% of the market, it would merely make the market economically unviable for both companies.
In such instances, you do indeed have “natural monopolies” which are an economic construct, not a regulatory artifact.
And if this were not true, Verizon wouldn't have agitated to get it made illegal in 19 states for the local municipality to be the owner of that "natural monopoly" transport network; see also my month long thread on that topic and it's second and third order resultants in late 2012. Cheers, -- jra -- Jay R. Ashworth Baylink jra@baylink.com Designer The Things I Think RFC 2100 Ashworth & Associates http://www.bcp38.info 2000 Land Rover DII St Petersburg FL USA BCP38: Ask For It By Name! +1 727 647 1274