Broadband News
News, views and analysis
American regulator gets feedback on broadband reform
20 Jul 2010 | 08.11 Europe/London
Opinion on the FCC’s proposed review of broadband regulations is still as divided as ever, despite the offer of a ‘third way’.
Feedback is coming in from the American broadband and internet industry, as well as civil liberties groups and most seem to be holding positions assumed earlier which either back or oppose action.
The FCC believes it needs to reclassify broadband services as telecommunications services to ensure net neutrality. After losing a recent court case with Comcast, in which it had sought to prevent the ISP throttling Bit Torrent P2P file sharing, the FCC decided to put three options in front of the country. Doing nothing or reclassifying broadband as a telephone service were the two most extreme options with a ‘third way’ offering reclassification without giving the regulator any power to guide broadband prices.
Divided views
As one might imagine, opinion is still very clearly split. The vast majority of ISPs have told the FCC that over regulation will dissuade investment in the sector at the very time it is needed to fund the National Broadband Plan. AT&T has warned that any action would “cram today's broadband Internet access providers into an ill-fitting 20th century regulatory silo”.
The Cellular Industry Trade Association has summed up the response of many by referring to the proposed changes as “heavy regulation” no matter what spin or reasoning is given.
Google, owner of YouTube, is sticking to its pro net neutrality guns, citing the need for ‘clarity’ and ‘legal predictability’ in running America’s broadband networks.
The Open Internet Coalition and civil liberties organisations generally appear to agree that net neutrality will give surfers freedom to use services of their choice unfettered by their ISP of choice.
The ‘third way’ of regulatory reform not going as far as price monitoring appear to have not prompted either side in the discussions to move from their diametrically opposed views.
Feedback is coming in from the American broadband and internet industry, as well as civil liberties groups and most seem to be holding positions assumed earlier which either back or oppose action.
The FCC believes it needs to reclassify broadband services as telecommunications services to ensure net neutrality. After losing a recent court case with Comcast, in which it had sought to prevent the ISP throttling Bit Torrent P2P file sharing, the FCC decided to put three options in front of the country. Doing nothing or reclassifying broadband as a telephone service were the two most extreme options with a ‘third way’ offering reclassification without giving the regulator any power to guide broadband prices.
Divided views
As one might imagine, opinion is still very clearly split. The vast majority of ISPs have told the FCC that over regulation will dissuade investment in the sector at the very time it is needed to fund the National Broadband Plan. AT&T has warned that any action would “cram today's broadband Internet access providers into an ill-fitting 20th century regulatory silo”.
The Cellular Industry Trade Association has summed up the response of many by referring to the proposed changes as “heavy regulation” no matter what spin or reasoning is given.
Google, owner of YouTube, is sticking to its pro net neutrality guns, citing the need for ‘clarity’ and ‘legal predictability’ in running America’s broadband networks.
The Open Internet Coalition and civil liberties organisations generally appear to agree that net neutrality will give surfers freedom to use services of their choice unfettered by their ISP of choice.
The ‘third way’ of regulatory reform not going as far as price monitoring appear to have not prompted either side in the discussions to move from their diametrically opposed views.