that of voice [13]. As noted above, historically the 'pipe' business accounted for nearly all of the overall revenue and content formed only a very small part. However, after the deregulation the relative revenue share has undergone a dramatic transformation. In particular the internet platform has provided a level playing field SO service and content retailers can supply a global customer base with relative ease. Significant revenue may be raised from such content provision: however the infrastructure and retail layer players may not be well positioned to receive a share of this cash flow. The decline of 'pipe' revenue may be attributed to a reduction in cost-per-bit for transfer- ring information. The large capacity afforded by optical fibres combined with continual reduction in the cost of their roll-out has meant that the cost of transmission for one bit has dropped significantly. Telecommunications industry deregulation on the other hand has meant Broadband Telecommunications Technologies and Management Figure 14.6 ARPU trends in the United States Content Content Figure 14.7 Overall trends of 'pipe' and content revenue more competition, and therefore a shift from value-based pricing to cost-based pricing. Indeed the capacity glut caused by excessive optical fibres drove many long-distance operators to bankruptcy. For instance, the bankruptcy of two long-distance US operators, Global Crossing and Worldcom, occurred in 2002 [14, 15]. The reduced cost of bit delivery as well as open access to a global market place via the internet has allowed single-cast content delivery to become economical. An example is TV content. Before the internet the only economical methods of delivery were TV broadcasting or video rental single-casting. It has now become economical to single-cast video content on- demand over the internet. Content aggregation platforms such as YouTube allow for a global audience to connect to a globally produced body of infotainment. The infrastructure and retail layers of the broadband telecommunicati