John Levine wrote on 12/23/2017 11:15 PM:
In article , rickman wrote:
You seem to fail to understand how "the phone company" operates. They have
capital investment. A regulatory board allows them a certain profit based
on that capital investment. If they make too little profit they can request
rate changes of the regulatory board. TPC doesn't lose money.

That was called rate of return regulation. In the US, only little
rural telcos still do that. Big phone companies have negotiated price
caps instead, which give them a new incentive to invest as little as
possible in the regulated network.

For the most part, mobile phone rates aren't regulated at all.

You are confused. The cell phone companies are in a different business.
Verizon may own a public telephone company, but most of the US has public
phone companies owned by someone else. The phone companies providing
landline phone service are still regulated entities regardless of who owns
what.

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Rick C

Viewed the eclipse at Wintercrest Farms,
on the centerline of totality since 1998