Net Neutrality
By Mary Lou Jay
People have come to expect more and better services from their wireless carriers each year, and the intensely competitive wireless marketplace is meeting and often surpassing those expectations. But now, just as wireless broadband promises to become a true third pipe to the Internet, legislation introduced in the new Congress threatens to stifle the innovation and investment required to give wireless customers the anywhere, anytime connectivity they want.
Proposed so-called net neutrality laws, which in essence is Internet regulation, would impose nondiscriminatory requirements on network operators. Although the debate has so far centered on traditional wireline Internet access (the cable companies and the telcos), industry observers say it would almost certainly be applied to—and negatively impact—wireless broadband as well.
“You can see some of the same arguments for neutrality beginning to creep over to wireless networks,” says Mike McCurry, a partner in the Public Strategies Group. “Previously there had always been some sense that wireless Internet access, because it’s much more competitive than wireline, would be immune from these kinds of regulations. Recently, however, an advocate of Internet regulation published a paper and has been promoting the idea that some of the same regulations about attaching devices to the Internet ought to apply to wireless. That would really extend some of the net neutrality proposals to wireless, and the idea has started to gain steam,” he warns.
“But Internet regulation would deprive wireless of that creative spark that has made it a huge industry over the course of the past several years. It would ultimately thwart the product development that could make wireless a primary way that people access broadband Internet connections. It would stymie some of the competition that has spurred innovation and expansion of the industry, and it would also make it harder to get the really cool products that would
drive consumer interest,” McCurry continues.
Competition negates need for legislation
The Internet Freedom Preservation Act, introduced by Senator Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota) and Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) would require broadband Internet access providers to treat every bit of information in their pipelines the same way. They could not set priorities for the flow of information, even if it helped move certain Internet traffic, such as a video download or a VOIP call, more effectively.
The Myth of Net Neutrality
At constantly falling prices, wireless consumers enjoy better products and services everyday. So-called "net neutrality" legislation would stifle the innovation and competition that has made it all possible. Two experts uncover the truth behind the misleading term "net neutrality" and describe how it would harm the wireless consumer.
