The Telecoms Industry Spends $US230K a Day To Make Sure Your Broadband Sucks
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Photo: Justin Sullivan / Staff, Getty Images
If broadband in the United States sucks, you can thank the telecoms industry, which is apparently so obsessed with maintaining our current crappy internet infrastructure that it spent a combined total of $US234 ($319) million lobbying against faster, cheaper competitors during the 116th Congress.
According to a new study conducted jointly by Common Cause and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union, telecoms giants spend nearly $US230,000 ($313,766) a day on average in the course of their work to thwart any legislation that would disrupt their ironclad grip on the broadband marketplace. Comcast — reportedly the worst offender — spent more than $US43 ($59) million in the last congressional session alone, with AT&T trailing at $US36 ($49) million spent.