U.S. CableCos Rules the Roost

I'm little late to the party but the U.S. court Brand X decision allowing cablecos to not share their networks could be a major blow to independent VOIP service providers such as Vonage and Lingo. It is not inconceivable to think cablecos offering their own flavor of VOIP will block the traffic of rivals. Frankly, this scenario – if it materializes – stinks because totally goes against the grain of the power of Web. Instead of offering a highway to deliver services and information to the masses, the Web could devolve into a series of private networks with “walled garden” applications/services. Sure, the carriers and cablecos have made huge investments to develop high-speed networks but they have the advantage of customer relationships and a steady revenue stream from subscribers paying for high-speed service. If the U.S. cablecos go down this path, perhaps the carriers can counter-attack by providing Vonage, et al with more love in deals that benefit both sides (co-marketing, revenue sharing, joint ventures, white-label branding, etc.). In Canada, the CRTC has extracted a promise from Bell and Telus to not block third-party traffic.