Worldwide average DSL speeds increase, no thanks the US.

While fiber is the future proof network that more countries are adopting, world DSL speeds and prices are up. DSL is the last mile of choice for the US Telcos and other less developed places. The improved DSL speed, however is largely due to improvements south of the equator.

The big change came as a result of big boosts provides by Latin American carriers, who boosted residential speeds by 36% to 2.74 Mbps. Telecom Argentina and Telefonica del Peru were two carriers that boosted speeds. In comparison, the prices for FTTx and cable tariffs have not changed much. (Gigaom)

If we wait for Argentina and Peru pass us, will it be enough to convince US law makers that a duopoly is not a competitive environment that best serves the needs of our population? Could be. So far, not one of the remaining Presidential candidates has addressed this issue outside of taking a position on misleading “net neutrality” legislation. Any net neutrality legislation first assumes the presence an anti competitive market and then does nothing to make it more competitive. If adopted, a government bureaucrat will establish how much of what we will have at what cost fro the same old duopoly. Think I’m wrong? Let me remind you this is the same bureaucracy that thinks ISDN is broadband. It is far better to first undo the duopoly before going down that path.