Dr. William Melody:

Think of any of the new technologies and in most countries it’s illegal. The laws are written to preserve things that are inherited, inherited regulation. The barriers to advancement are inherited regulation.

Dr. Melody stressed the importance of demand and its neglect at the hand of supply-side interests. Now, who has interest in developing information infrastructure?

New network operators, first. Also, Multisector infrastructure, like electricity, water, etc. Frequently these sectors lay down bandwidth for their own use, but are kept from sharing this largely be regulatory barriers. The tradition interest comes from regional and local governments, and there is room for co-ops, public/private partnerships, and ISPs.

As for the last item, the biggest ISP is often owned by the big monopoly. We don’t have a market that encourages people to provide innovative services. We have a market that’s dominated by inherited interests.