Thomas Johnson of the Wall Street Journal reports that a group representing Verizon and the other major phone carriers is asking the FCC to change the rules by amending the Mobile Television Service Order, which governs the industry and which is currently under consideration.
The ISPs argue that the rule doesn’t prevent them from selling access to the Internet — to an internet service provider, not to consumers — because they can negotiate better terms for access to their subscriber base, through the use of differential pricing and other channels of competitive pricing. And most of the ISPs also say that the rule does not restrict them from delivering Internet video services to their customers in one of two ways: through over-the-top video services offered by companies other than the ISP or through services that aren’t actually video services.
According to the WSJ report, a coalition of ISPs — including AT&T, Verizon, CenturyLink and Bright House Networks as well as other companies including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, T-Mobile and Comcast — is set to meet with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler today to advocate for the rules to be modified so that they don’t apply to over-the-top video services.
The ISPs aren’t going alone. The wireless spectrum auction (a multi-year battle in which Verizon is a major player) and a new set of rules announced by the FCC last year for new wireless broadband devices will likely play a part in whether or not any of the ISPs push for changes to the rules.
More than two dozen state attorneys general also have joined the Internet Association in filing a lawsuit to block the FCC from enforcing the rule. Verizon Wireless and AT&T have filed a friend-of-the court brief in the case as well.
While it remains to be seen whether net neutrality laws will be overturned after the FCC votes next week, net neutrality rules are already under scrutiny after Verizon’s Open Internet Order passed with broad bipartisan support in the FCC.
The rules require ISPs to treat all types of content — phone and internet — equally and prohibit them from blocking products or slowing online content that companies like Google and Netflix want. In fact, many net neutrality supporters — including Apple, Comcast and other companies who benefit from the network neutrality protections — have questioned whether the U.S. Department of Justice will enforce the rules given its recent success in defending the net neutrality rules in court.
(Via Wired)