Can Regulators Boost Internet Access Speeds by Enabling Cable TV Competition?

source: Ofcom

With the caveat that there are many institutional and historical processes at work, one supply-side policy communications regulators can implement--or should have implemented--is legalizing and aggressively supporting deployment of cable TV networks.

That appears to lead not only to more competition in a market, but also seems to lead to higher overall Internet access speeds.

Likewise, one demand-side development that has helped spur speed upgrades, as well as deployment footprint, is the triple-play bundle pioneered by cable TV companies.

Such are the conclusions one might draw from recent Internet speed tests in the United Kingdom, where Virgin Media, if not ubiquitous, passes about 44 percent of U.K. homes.

One data point: a recent speed test shows Virgin Media providing the fastest downstream speeds, compared to Internet service providers using the BT wholesale network.

In those tests, Virgin Media speeds in the 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. portion of the day were 79 percent faster than BT’s speeds in the same time period, using one test methodology.

In another test, Virgin Media was more than twice as fast as BT in the 7 a.m. time period.

In the 6 p.m. to 3 p.m. period, Virgin Media was either 46 percent faster or twice as fast, depending on test method.

Peak and Off-Peak Download Speed Tests Results September 2016
Provider	tbbx1 Test (1 download)			httpx6 Test (6 downloads)
	7am-3pm	6pm-midnight	% difference	7am-3pm	6pm-midnight	% difference
BT	24.8 Mbps	23.9 Mbps	-3.8%	21.8 Mbps	21.2 Mbps	-2.8%
EE	14.2 Mbps	13.2 Mbps	-7.6%	14.4 Mbps	13.6 Mbps	-5.9%
Plusnet	23 Mbps	21.6 Mbps	-6.5%	18.7 Mbps	18.5 Mbps	-1.1%
Sky	15.3 Mbps	14 Mbps	-9.3%	13.9 Mbps	12.5 Mbps	-11.2%
TalkTalk	14.7 Mbps	13.1 Mbps	-12.2%	13.8 Mbps	13.3 Mbps	-3.8%
Virgin Media	44.6 Mbps	34.9 Mbps	-27.8%	52.6 Mbps	44.5 Mbps	-18.2%

source: Think Broadband