AT&T Praises EU Approach to Net Neutrality
An AT&T executive said Monday that the FCC should follow the European Commission competition minister's lead on network neutrality and wait to impose restrictions until there is a need for intervention.
In a blog post, Jim Cicconi, AT&T's senior executive vice president for external and legislative affairs, highlighted a speech made last week by European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes in which she embraced the FCC's four open Internet principles, while urging caution against imposing new restrictions aimed at preserving an open Internet. "AT&T could not agree more, and hopes that the U.S. will exercise the same judgment and follow the same deliberative path as Commissioner Kroes has outlined for Europe," Cicconi wrote in his post.
Kroes said the debate over net neutrality, the idea that broadband providers should treat all content the same, is not as mature in Europe as it is in the United States and as a result, "we must also avoid over-hasty regulatory intervention."
She noted the FCC has called for two additional principles, transparency and non-discrimination, to the open Internet principles the FCC has followed since 2005.
"While the importance of increased transparency is clear, the real meaning and consequences of the non-discrimination principle should be carefully considered," Kroes said. "In fact, some are interpreting the non-discrimination principle as essentially preventing telecom operators from seeking commercial payments or agreements with content providers, which deliver their highly capacity-consuming services through broadband networks and require a certain level of service for their transmission to be effective."
She added that such an approach "raises a number of delicate and complex
issues" that should be carefully examined and pledged she would not be "someone who comes up with a solution first and then looks for a problem to attach it to."
Kroes outlined the principles she believes should govern the debate over net neutrality in Europe. They include freedom of expression; a requirement that broadband providers provide transparent rules for their users; promoting investments in "efficient and open" networks; ensuring competition among broadband providers; and support for innovative business models.
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