The industry has been on a long, strange trip, seeking to break the last-mile bottleneck. The journey is the destination might look nice on that needlepoint pillow Aunt Martha sent you last Christmas, we'd better hope it doesn't apply to life in the local loop. The industry has been on a long, strange trip, seeking to break the last-mile bottleneck. First, there are the regulatory and competitive issues.
Finances are another roadblock.
Providers must work harder and harder to wring out profits. And customers' financial woes have left more than one equipment supplier in the lurch, limiting the number of available options in the market. Finally, there's the issue of technology. Until there's more assurance of at least reasonable profitability, service providers will be reluctant to roll out the infrastructure needed to truly clear that last mile. Satellite technology has experienced its own crashes and burns, but new efforts are under way to revive this approach.