Net Neutrality Discussion in Germany (II) - DT Position

  

Earlier this month we heard about the German parliament discussion on Net Neutrality (see "Net Neutrality Discussion in Germany" - here). Now we get the Deutsche Telekom position. In one word "NO" for Net Neutrality.

DT CEO, Rene Obermann , told the Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA) - ""Without our telecommunications networks and modern primary products there wouldn't be any online services coming from Google or Apple,". He has also said he would like to "charge companies offering data-intensive online services more for use of the Telekom's networks. Google, for instance, may be asked to pay Telekom extra for priority rights to stream its YouTube videos over the company's networks." See more in a Deutsche Welle article - here.

For many years, carriers such as Deutsche Telekom saw themselves as providers of dumb pipes. I remember DT managers telling me that "we don't care what we transfer on our network; we move our customers' bits from point A to point B".

More recently, these carriers realized that not all bits are equal - some have more value, and if a carrier can commit for an SLA to certain applications - this is a business opportunity. Yet, most of the incumbents are not yet deploying DPI/traffic control solutions, not to mention charging content owners for SLAa.

DT's official response (by DT's spokeswoman Marion Kessing) to Deutsche Welle was more conservative - "the company supports net neutrality and existing standards must be maintained  However, data traffic is rising rapidly and that much of this type of traffic, including gaming and television over Internet, can not tolerate delays in the way that traditional web and email traffic could."

The FCC re-evaluates Network Neutrality

  

A post to the FCC Broadband blog evaluates the effect of the recent ruling in the Comcast-FCC appeal. Austin Schlick, the FCC's General Counsel, presents his (FCC?) view on the affect the ruling has on the recent National Broadband Plan and Network Neutrality (although Mr. Schlick does not use this term in the document).  Here.

I guess the immediate motivation behind the legal opinion was to make sure no one will this that the entire plan has been compromised. As Mr. Schlick says "The Comcast/BitTorrent opinion has no effect at all on most of the Plan. Many of the recommendations for the FCC itself involve matters over which the Commission has an “express statutory delegation of authority.”.

Nevertheless, since the ruling cannot be ignored, we get also the following statement - "At the same time, yesterday’s decision may affect a significant number of important Plan recommendations. Among them are recommendations aimed at accelerating broadband access and adoption in rural America; connecting low-income Americans, Native American communities, and Americans with disabilities".

Playing the politically correct tune ..

Bottom line:

"Does the FCC still have a mission in the Internet area? Absolutely. ... We are assessing the implications of yesterday’s decision for each one, to ensure that the Commission has adequate authority to execute the mission laid out in the Plan."