Commentary

AT&T's Bid To Prevent Wireless Neutrality Rules

Last year, as the Federal Communications Commission was investigating Comcast's blocking of peer-to-peer visits, the Internet service provider announced that it would develop a protocol-neutral system of traffic management.

Now, with policymakers focusing on competition in the wireless industry, AT&T has said it no longer objects to Skype and other VoIP apps running on the iPhone's 3G network.

AT&T's change of heart comes five months after broadband advocates complained to the FCC about AT&T and Apple limiting VoIP apps for the iPhone to the Wi-Fi network. It also comes just several weeks after FCC chair Julius Genachowski proposed that the agency enact neutrality regulations that would extend to wireless broadband networks.

Today, Genachowski reiterated that proposal. "I believe firmly in the need for the FCC to preserve Internet openness, whether a person accesses the Internet from a desktop computer or a wireless laptop or netbook," he said today at a CTIA wireless industry event. Genachowski qualified his remarks, however, with an acknowledgement that "mobile poses unique congestion issues" that might require different management techniques than broadband provided via cable model or DSL.

AT&T seems poised to argue that its decision to allow VoIP apps on the 3G network shows there's no need for such rules -- at least for the wireless Web.

The company has already made clear it opposes wireless neutrality rules. Just today, AT&T Mobility chief Ralph de la Vega insisted at CTIA that "the marketplace is vibrant" and that there is "is no need to burden the mobile Internet with onerous new regulations."

Still, AT&T's shift in position on VoIP -- a shift that obviously occurred in response to political pressure -- doesn't mean that all wireless companies will now follow neutrality principles. "This is a very, very far cry from remedying all of the problems with wireless broaband," Free Press policy counsel Chris Riley tells MediaPost.

Just as the FCC decided to sanction Comcast even after the company promised to stop blocking peer-to-peer traffic, the agency also should continue to investigate whether wireless carriers are violating open Internet principles.

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