[KKKKkkkk1]

That kind of thing used to happen in Israel too. Every time the government introduced a new regulation aiming to reduce mobile costs, the three companies would respond by simultaneously raising prices. And then the government used the nuclear option--They licensed two new mobile operators. And the prices plummeted.

[devcpp]

More importantly, they forced the old operators to play nice: they can't try too hard to retain customers, they can't lower their prices too much, etc. Absolute control is a strong component of Israeli regulation (transports, broadband, cellular, gas...)

[Paul-ish]

Why is that the nuclear option? I would expect more competition to be the go to solution.

[lostlogin]

That logic doesn't work with telecoms, or with other big infrastructure type companies - water, power, sewerage.

[Paul-ish]

Is wireless as bad as those three?

[girvo]

My understanding is yes, it is, mainly because spectrum is a limited resource

[ptaipale]

However, it's not as bad. You can't practically build another set of power or water distribution grid, but you can assign new frequencies to new operators. There's a limit on how many you can have, but you can have way more than with those services where there is a physical pipe or line to each point of consumption.