Quote from: pineapple express on October 27, 2018, 10:15:33 AM

Quote from: julian071 on October 27, 2018, 09:53:22 AM

Quote from: jbreher on October 27, 2018, 08:13:18 AM

'splain me 'squashed', willya?

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It's all easily observable throughout history. Any new cell phone network operators recently in your part of the world, providing better or cheaper solutions?

mmm hmm... and which upstart 'cell phone network operators' were 'squashed' in this manner?

To name but one example in Brazil, a few big construction companies could just bribe some politicians and top brass of Petrobas for all kinds of big deals, that their competitors would not get. That got blown up in the end because the judicial system does still work over there.

Monopoly in your example created by central authority, not a free market. It is very likely that the monopoly of mobile operators is also the result of the work of the corrupt central authority.

"It is very likely that the monopoly of mobile operators" ~ so, you are actually guessing that, it's not like you know that it is because central authority. There are probably more obstacles in countries with high corruption, but take any country with low corruption index and you will find the same problem, newcomers can't compete with big mobile operators with existing infrastructure. Sometimes newcomers come out with new packages that are aimed to some niche market, and they can offer cheaper price because their costs are low (except the huge fee they pay to existing mobile operator), but most common end game for newcomers is that existing mobile operators will buy them up if they get enough traction.

Thanks, julian071, comparing miners to telecom companies is spot on. Today, it is cheapest than ever to build your own cell tower with Raspberry Pi, but you can't become a mobile operator like that because customers expect quality that big operators have spent millions and polished for years. So, it has nothing to do with central authority, without central authority, you would have even bigger monopoly (by not letting 2 big mobile operators join).
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/yw35vg/how-to-make-a-diy-mini-cell-phone-tower-using-parts-you-can-order-online