Corner shops in the neighborhood save the trouble of driving to big stores for day-to-day groceries. That’s what the carrier-neutral POPs do for affordable broadband. It’s ubiquitous in Europe but nearly non-existent in Asia. Only Singapore and Hong Kong host carrier-neutral POPs. That’s why Internet has been centralized in these two city-states.
In other words, Asian countries have volunteered to be digitally colonized by Singapore and Hong Kong. Thanks to the former’s protection of incumbents and local carriers. Citizens of landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) are doubly punished. First, the adjacent littoral country’s carriers overcharge the LLDC carriers. Then the latter overcharges own citizens.
Cross-sector infrastructure sharing and cross-border overland connectivity can minimize, if not eliminate, the abuse of bandwidth trading. I have tried to sensitize Bangladesh government to break the ice. Here is my article.
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