Google-Verizon Deal, FCC Talks Failure Come at Key Time in Europe’s Net Neutrality Debate
U.S. talks on net neutrality are being closely monitored by European players and regulators, several said Friday. The collapse of FCC talks and the reported Google-Verizon agreement (CD Aug 6 p1) come in the middle of important consultations in the EU and U.K. on net neutrality. Meanwhile, Germany’s incumbent provider is said to be aiming for a similar agreement with Google. The widely reported Google-Verizon agreement, which the companies have yet to confirm, calls for Verizon to treat all traffic on its wireline network without discrimination and to be more open about how it manages wireless traffic. Google told us Friday it had “no announcement to make at this point.”
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The European Commission “follows all developments that have a possible impact on net neutrality with great interest,” a spokeswoman said. She declined to comment on the FCC net neutrality or Google-Verizon discussions. EC consultation on net neutrality closes at the end of September and “it is too early to comment on the outcome,” she said. The EC believes the Internet should be open and neutral, and that users should be able to access the content they want, she said. At the same time, content providers and operators need the right incentives to keep investing and innovating, the spokeswoman said.
Traffic management lets ISPs prioritize time-sensitive applications such as VoIP and online gaming at peak times, but they must be clear with consumers on how and why they use those techniques, a spokesman for the U.K.’s Internet Services Providers’ Association said. “It’s also worth pointing out that the U.K. has a very competitive market, unlike the U.S., where the debate on traffic management and net neutrality is more developed,” he said. The U.K. Office of Communications, which is also discussing net neutrality, isn’t commenting on the possible Google-Verizon deal, a spokeswoman said.
Large European incumbent telecom companies “are closely watching what the U.S. carriers are doing to prioritize traffic and how the FCC reacts,” said Bingham McCutchen attorney Axel Spies, who represents the German Competitive Carriers Association VATM. Heise quoted DT CEO Rene Obermann saying the company wants to charge data-intensive providers such as Google and Apple, including for the mobile Internet. Talks with Google have reportedly already begun. A DT spokesman confirmed there are discussions ongoing between telecom and Internet companies but said no details have been publicized.
The Internet is facing major challenges, with data traffic growing rapidly at the same time as the proportion of “inelastic” traffic, which can’t tolerate transmission delays, also expands, the DT spokesman said. Most users don’t care if their e-mail takes a couple of seconds longer to arrive, and delays are “at best a nuisance” while watching a video, he said. With real-time applications such as online trading, videoconferencing and telemedicine, a data transmission delay can have serious consequences, he said. Treating all data packages the same would restrict or even prevent the functioning of such quality-sensitive applications, he said. This isn’t about censorship or whether certain data should even be transported in the first place, but about the level of quality guaranteed for that transport, the DT spokesman said. “The industry needs to discuss how this is going to happen and how the additional network roll-out can be financed."
German competitors acknowledge that investors must have the opportunity to finance their networks and manage traffic to avoid congestion, Spies said. This could include customers paying more for higher download speeds, he said. That doesn’t mean regulators should allow content from specific providers to be treated in a discriminatory way, he said. The VATM agrees, however, that time-sensitive applications such as emergency calls or video transfers of surgical procedures should “enjoy priority because there is a common interest for it.”