More Signs for Net Neutrality Piece - Google and Verizon Joint Appeal to the FCC

 

After we saw some other signs for agreement between network operators and content providers ("Verizon likes Skype" - here) and doubts about Net Neutrality future ("'Net Neutrality, R.I.P" - here) we get now a joint opnion editorial in WSJ from Eric Schmidt (CEO, Google) and Ivan Seidenberg (CEO, Verizon) (here) where their bottom line is "While our two companies don't agree on every issue, we do agree generally as a matter of policy that the framework of minimal government involvement should continue".

This is referring to Network Neutrality.

After all, they say - ".. the [FCC] plan focuses on increasing access to the highest-quality broadband available. That's a goal both of our companies embrace. It's why Verizon has invested tens of billions of dollars over the past five years to deploy its all-fiber broadband network, and it is why it is rolling out a new high-speed wireless broadband network that can deliver speeds far in excess of many landline networks today. It is also why Google is planning to test a one-gig-per-second broadband network that will provide up to 500,000 people in one or more U.S. communities with ultra-high-speed Internet." [Implying, I believe, to the FCC idea of investing billions of tax payer money on a new public safety network - see "FCC: Public Safety over Broadband Wireless Will Cost $16B" - here ]

It seems that for the relevant parties (not including the customers, of course) it is better to get a compromise now, rather than wait for what the unknown regulation may bring.