For once, it's not me saying it...

Stumbled upon this blog post this morning, from the Grand Fork ND blog. This blog covers technology in general and broadband in particular. The post yesterday was entitled Who'll win out, government intervention or private investment for telecom infrastructure. It's basically making the case for some form government intervention or at the very least facilitation to get next generation access deployed. It's a good read and a good summary of the pros and cons.

Interestingly enough, this is a topic I've heard a lot about in conversations over the last couple of days. And I'm starting to see a shift in the nature of the argument. Increasingly, people accept that fiber to the home should be viewed as an infrastructure, not as a service. And they even agree that infrastructure is a matter for public finances. The remaining argument against is "look at the mess the public sector does of everything", an argument that's particularly prevalent in the UK and US.

That, to me, is an ideological, or political, argument. I could be countered with numerous examples of private sector mess-ups. Ultimately, it's more a matter of belief than a matter of hard facts. Which suggests that national, or even cultural approaches to the questions of public vs private will weigh significantly in the debate.

But with governments that have staunchly been free-trade advocates buying off banks and pumping subsidies into the financial susyem left right and center, with candidates to the US presidency openly defending public health care development, I can't help but wonder if we're not at the threshold of a paradigm shift...