Verizon CEO Warns Against Tough New Net Neutrality Rules for Wireless
Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam said Verizon opposes a move to impose tougher net neutrality rules on mobile broadband, in a Wednesday speech at The Financial Times-European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association Summit in Brussels. McAdam warned that if the FCC gets net neutrality rules wrong it could derail efforts to keep up with soaring demand: “History has repeatedly warned us of the dangers of over-regulation.”
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In comments last month, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler suggested that in remarks to an earlier financial conference McAdam had suggested that Verizon would not object if mobile and fixed broadband received the same treatment under net neutrality rules being developed by the FCC (CD Sept 17 page 1).
LTE is a “real game-changer” in making video available to mobile devices, McAdam said Wednesday (http://vz.to/YNZqsK), saying mobile devices will originate more traffic than wired devices by 2017, with mobile data growing 66 percent a year. “We know that consumers will increasingly want their video on the go,” McAdam said. This year was the first time consumers used mobile devices to watch video more than they used desktops and laptops, he said. The U.S. private sector invested $75 billion last year to keep up, with AT&T and Verizon laying out a combined $36 billion, he said.
U.S. regulators have largely chosen to not regulate wireless networks and services, which is “a central reason why the U.S. mobile industry continues to be a magnet and incubator for global investment and innovation,” McAdam said. Unfortunately, the U.S. “still hasn’t completely learned from our history and we are seeing troubling signs from regulators,” he said.
"The most recent example is the ongoing net neutrality debate,” McAdam said. Everyone basically supports an open Internet, he said: “The question is simply what level of regulation should be applied to ensure the Internet remains unconstrained by any player -- network operators, search engines, device manufacturers, content providers, or application developers.”
Carriers’ ability to manage their networks “has been essential in building the Internet into what it is today,” McAdam said. “If we think about a world where regulators can suddenly oversee networks, technologies, platforms and pricing, investment and innovation will come to a grinding halt and the consumer experience will suffer.”