Verizon-Google Approach Positive, AT&T Wireless Chief Says
The net neutrality proposal by Google and Verizon is a positive sign and a right step forward in coming up with a reasonable agreement, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets CEO Ralph de la Vega said Wednesday. The plan is good for the industry, De la Vega told an investor conference. He underlined that two companies from different industries can come together on a difficult issue. He’s hopeful that the rest of the industry as well as the regulators can use the proposal as a framework to come to an agreement. De la Vega wouldn’t speculate on how the FCC would react but said any debate should be settled by legislative process and not regulators.
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There have been cases where FCC rulings were overturned, the executive said about the FCC effort to regulate broadband transport as a Title II service. “I hope we don’t get to that,” he said, saying he hopes for a reasonable agreement.
The proposal with Google will build momentum with other industry participants, Verizon Chief Financial Officer John Killian later told the conference. He didn’t have any insight into how the FCC would react, he said. The key is to make sure companies like Verizon, AT&T and Google can continue to invest under a reasonable framework, he said.
AT&T supports the FCC plan to allocate D-block to the public safety agencies, De la Vega said. He declined to comment on speculation that T-Mobile USA is talking to Harbinger Capital Partners on a proposed 4G network using satellite spectrum. There are many options with use of spectrum and there are opportunities for companies like T-Mobile to use other spectrum bands, he said. On broadcast spectrum reallocation, he said it’s going to be a multi-year process.
Verizon believes it can charge a premium for higher-quality services, Killian said on the subject of LTE. De la Vega wouldn’t say what AT&T will charge for its LTE service. Both executives said customers will pay for quality and premium service and premium speed. They also said they see cloud computing as an important part of the business going forward.
On the device front, Verizon plans to release tablets in the “not-too-distant future,” Killian said. He expects LTE tablets to come early next year and smartphones by the middle of next year. Regarding Google’s Android mobile operating platform, Killian said there will be a steady stream of new devices and enhancements. When asked if and when Verizon will carry Apple’s iPhone, Killian said if the device becomes available to the carrier under the right terms, Verizon would be interested.
A Google executive said Wednesday much of the storm over the company’s net neutrality proposal is ill-informed and he’s hopeful that it will die down eventually. “Lots of people who are commenting on the agreement need to read it,” Nicklas Lundblad, Google’s head of public policy, said at a Stanford University forum. “It’s too early to tell” how the controversy will evolve, he said. “Debates like these don’t play out over a couple of days.” Lundblad said he’s hopeful that over time, “we'll see a different nuance” in the response to the companies’ proposal.
Asked about the strong ripples at the FCC and among civil liberties and netroots groups, Lundblad said Google foresaw neither all nor none of them. “We understood that this would be a well publicized” development, he said. Concerning privacy, Lundblad said the lessons of history clash with the theme of The Transparent Society by David Brin that society is best served when everyone knows everything about everyone else. He said Google seeks to allow users to create digital “noise” to “create a space around them of ambiguity,” in line with a quotation from Nietzsche that “to speak lots about yourself is a way of hiding.” The company does this by providing users tools to control information relating to them and by being open about its policies, Lundblad said.
Speaking broadly about tech policy, he said it’s “always better to figure out what regulatory landscape will look like and engage with it.” The role of technologists is to explain technology to policymakers and present them with multiple choices, Lundblad said. The term “cloud computing” leaves “something to be desired,” he said. The image is so amorphous that “it’s really hard to trust,” Lundblad said. It should be discussed simply as “the Internet,” he said. “There’s essentially nothing new,” just a continuing shift of computing to “the core” from “the periphery.” The world’s total data doubled in the 150 years to 1900, again by 1950 and again by 1960, Lundblad said. Then through 1992, it doubled every five years, he said. In 2020, it will double every 73 days, Lundblad said.