LIRNEasia

Net neutrality has become the hot-button issue in US telecom policy. Barack Obama is for net neutrality and the Republican-dominated FCC is leaning in that direction as can be seen below.

However, is this something we need to import? If everyone is charged the same irrespective of use, what really happens is that the low-users end up subsidizing the high-users, especially in countries of the South, where the biggest cost driver is international bandwidth. What we need is a business model wherein low users pay only for what they use, in small amounts. This is what worked in mobile, and this is what will work in broadband.

So let’s take the essence of the net neutrality debate, that no class of user should be excluded. Let’s not take the elements which argue that it’s wrong to charge for use/volume.

F.C.C. Chief Backs Sanctions Against Comcast Over Blocking - NYTimes.com

Mr. Martin’s recommendation is a strong push for network neutrality, the idea that Internet access providers like Comcast should not be allowed to favor some uses of their networks over others. Internet companies like Google and free speech advocates have backed this approach.

The cable and phone companies that provide most of the nation’s Internet service have argued that such rules were not needed. They have said that they should be free to run their networks as they see fit, and that there had been no cases of problems with such discrimination.