access, but also on the configuration of the entire network, including the arrangement of elements in areas of the network quite distant from the access point, as well as the magnitude and the variability of the flows being introduced into the network by other parties. The greater the variability of the flows, the bigger the adverse impact on network performance. These qualities make platform access to last-mile broadband networks partic- ularly problematic. Internet traffic is notoriously "bursty," in that it often involves the brief introduction of a high volume of traffic followed by an extended period of little or no traffic. This is particularly true for certain types of applications and contrasts sharply with the flows in other types of networks, in which flows tend to be steadier and to change more gradually. The classic response to these problems is for the network owner to exercise discretion in the types of application and content Networks in Telecommunications providers it allows to access the network, as well as the precise locations at which it permits such access to occur. Platform access prevents network owners from exercising such discretion. The implementation of platform access necessarily gives rise to other economic harms. For example, platform access presumes that network owners must provide access to any content or application provider that presents data in a standard for- mat. In the extreme case, the government requires all networks to conform to that standard and prohibits networks from deviating from it. Although the standardiza- tion of Internet architecture is often praised as an unmitigated good, conventional economic theory underscores the existence of an optimal level of standardization, determined by the tradeoff between the value of the larger network size created by network economic effects and the value that end users place on the different types of services. If consumer preferences are relatively homogeneous, one would expect the entire network to coalesce around a single stand