Thursday, February 28, 2008

Carriers Provide Broadband Access, not 'Internet Service'

Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, gave an address at a meeting convened by the Federal Communications Commission at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, MA on Feb. 25, 2008 concerning Net neutrality.

Markey is a long-time advocate for Internet freedom, fighting with big telecom companies over commercialization of the Internet since its inception, supporting flat-fee pricing to encourage competition, growth and open use.

In his address, Markey points out that the Internet belongs to all of us--both the carriers and the users. A key point he brings out is that the job of the carriers is to provide broadband access to the Internet, not Internet service.

"Much like the policy debate over access charges on information services at the FCC two decades ago--the key question for safeguarding the Internet is recognition that the nature of the Net is really not about services provided by carriers themselves. They don't provide 'Internet services'--they provide broadband access to the Internet."

By administering network management tools, carriers constrain broadband access to the Internet--the very thing thing they are licensed by the FCC, and being paid by customers, to provide.

He agrees that problems may arise until bandwidth increases sufficiently to address the needs of the users. Yet, stifling use is not the answer. Broadband competition is necessary to promote affordable, high-speed Internet access.

"Perhaps if we had multiple competitors or super-high bandwidth to residential consumers this wouldn't be an issue. The problem today is that we have neither sufficient competition nor affordable, truly high-speed access to the Internet. I fully support and celebrate efforts by industry participants to deliver ever higher bandwidth speeds to consumers and have battled in Washington to ensure that policies are in place to make sure these key infrastructure assets are deployed over time to all neighborhoods in a given community."

"If the lack of bandwidth is plaguing network operations and posing policy issues needlessly, then the Commission would do well to re-examine broadband policies with a goal of jump-starting competition. Through broadband competition, consumers can reap the benefits of lower prices, higher speeds, and enhanced service quality. Certainly, wireless policy, universal service mechanisms, and other tools can also promote high-speed broadband deployment and affordability, but I continue to believe that competition should be our preferred policy for alleviating the current broadband policy issues of speed and affordability."

Markey urges the Commission to evaluate broadband policies to encourage competition. He also stresses that the Commission should examine corporate intent and practice of the 'reasonable measures' implemented to solve broadband dilemmas to determine whether carriers intend to utilize these measures temporarily or make them permanent for commercial advantage.

In closing, he reminds us that the Internet is still evolving and that Net freedoms should be consumer-centric. The Net is the promise for the future.

"The promise for the future is the Net's ability to enhance education, health care delivery, celebrate free speech, mitigate against the problems caused by concentration in traditional media, foster innovation, job creation, and spur economic growth."

To read Representative Markey's speech, go to:
Feb. 25, 2008--Markey: Broadband Deployment, Internet Freedom Go Hand-in-Hand
http://markey.house.gov/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=3277&Itemid=125

Rep. Markey supports a Net neutrality bill, the Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2008, recently introduced in congress, which will promote freely accessible content, applications, and services, and will force carriers to provide standalone as well as bundled services.

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