By Stewart Baines
Published: Friday 16 June 2006
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Name
John O.
Location
DC
Occupation
communications
Comment
"infinitely wealthier telcos"? Are you kidding?
On the "leave it alone" side you have Verizon ($90B current market value),
ATT ($98B), Alcatel ($14B) and Bellsouth ($59B) (plus minor players) for a total market value of $261B.
On the support "net neutrality" side you have Google ($81B), Microsoft ($241B), Yahoo ($44B), Amazon ($14B), eBay ($42B) plus others for a total market value of $422B.
This is big money on BOTH sides. Stop making it out to be "David v. Goliath" when there's no "David" in the fight.
[Ed note: As you rightly point out, there are some internet companies with a large market capitalisation. However, if you look across the world at the big telcos and consider their revenues and sales in addition to market cap, and consider how many large businesses they represent in every country, often with decades of experience in political lobbying, it is fair to think of them, in aggregate, as a lot wealthier.]
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