"In parts of Europe, such as Britain, broadband providers like British Telecom are required to offer wholesale access to their network to rivals," The Information noted. "A US offering would be tougher to pull off as US regulators don?t require cable operators to open up their networks to rivals."
Another potential landing spot for Internet service is Germany, "where the main provider Deutsche Telekom makes its network available to other broadband providers such as United Internet and Vodafone Germany."
Amazon could bundle Internet and video using its existing Prime service, creating a package similar to those offered by cable TV and Internet providers, the report said. Amazon did not return a request for comment from Ars today.
In the US, where consumers usually have at most one choice for high-speed broadband in any given city or town, ISPs generally haven't opened their wired networks to resellers. ISPs like AT&T have also filed lawsuits and used their control over utility poles to stall competitors like Google Fiber. Network "unbundling" requirements that could boost home broadband competition by requiring wholesale access were done away with more than a decade ago, and the Federal Communications Commission hasn't reinstated them.
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