BEREC seeks common understanding on net neutrality with India

BEREC seeks common understanding on net neutrality with India: "BEREC Chair Sebastien Soriano (Arcep) took this opportunity to emphasise that European regulators followed with great interest the Indian regulator’s move to ban Free Basics. He also expressed BEREC’s interest in the Indian industry’s dynamism, notably the impact of Reliance Jio on the market, the cost-sharing model through tower companies and the digital enabler Aadhaar. 

 This meeting was the occasion for BEREC Chair and Vice-Chairs to engage a discussion with their Indian counterpart to find the points where they have a common understanding about net neutrality. “India is the most important democracy in the world; Europe is the second one. So, as net neutrality is a democratic issue, it’s really important that the most important democracies stick together to see if we are considering this the same way.” 

In this regard, BEREC Chair informed the Indian regulator that BEREC intends to dedicate an important of its work to net neutrality this year.

In particular, a BEREC report on implementation of the net neutrality rules in the EU is to be issued this year. It is also envisaged that, in 2017, BEREC experts will elaborate a tool kit for quality of service measurements" 'via Blog this'

DT flirts with net neutrality controversy | Telecoms.com

DT flirts with net neutrality controversy | Telecoms.com: "Apple Music, Amazon’s Music Unlimited and Prime Video, napster, Netflix and Sky Go are a number of the services on offer currently, though there is potential for this list to expand substantially. A new partner programme has also been launched which doesn’t seem to have many limitations for the moment, presumably if you are prepared to pay Deutsche Telekom for the privilege.

“There’s no restriction: any provider of legal audio and video content can become a partner,” said Michael Hagspihl, Head of Consumer. “The StreamOn partnership is open to any interested party.”

 It’s an interesting move from a country which would usually be associated with conservativism, as the jury is still out on whether zero-rating offers are contradictory or complimentary to competition in the telco market. While there are valid arguments on both sides of the debate, the move from Deutsche Telekom could certainly prompt intervention from German regulators, known to be one of the strictest worldwide." 'via Blog this'

National Media and Infocommunications Authority • NMHH decision on non-discriminatory Internet

National Media and Infocommunications Authority • NMHH decision on non-discriminatory Internet: "The point of EU’s net neutrality rules is that internet service providers shall not block, slow down, alter, restrict, interfere with, degrade or discriminate between specific content, applications or services. The Hungarian Telekom’s TV GO service infringed these provisions, since other similar OTT- and video sharing services were only available for the subscribers’ data traffic package expense. The net neutrality provisions ensure the subscribers right to access and distribute information and content, use and provide applications and services of their choice, without discrimination not restricted by service providers or by third parties without any legal basis." 'via Blog this'

Net Neutrality Is Trump’s Next Target, Administration Says - NYTimes.com

Net Neutrality Is Trump’s Next Target, Administration Says - NYTimes.com: "In a news conference, Sean Spicer, the White House spokesman, mentioned the net neutrality rules affecting telecommunications and cable internet services, noting that the Obama administration had “reclassified them as common carriers.”

 Mr. Spicer said President Trump had “pledged to reverse this overreach.” The Obama-era rules, Mr. Spicer said, were an example of “bureaucrats in Washington” placing restrictions on one kind of company — internet service suppliers — and “picking winners and losers.”" 'via Blog this'

The 5G policy approach - Pan European Networks

The 5G policy approach - Pan European Networks : Pan European Networks: "The EU net neutrality rules are technologically neutral, and the rules will also apply to internet access services offered over the future 5G networks. If network slices are used to optimise the traffic in the 5G network, this must be done in a way that is consistent with the principle of net neutrality.

Some use cases of 5G will qualify as specialised services – certain forms of M2M communications, for example. Presumably, network slices could facilitate the reasonable traffic management allowed under the Net Neutrality Regulation if they are applied solely to differentiate between the objectively different technical quality of service requirements (e.g. interactive versus bulk traffic).

The concern for civil society, however, is that network slices can also be used to create internet fast lanes with paid prioritisation for certain types of content, such as through vertical integration with specific online video streaming services.

In July 2016, European telecommunication companies presented a ‘5G Manifesto for timely deployment of 5G in Europe’, which was welcomed and published online by the European Commission.3 The 5G Manifesto describes network slicing as a way to accommodate vertical integration with industry business models, and highlights the danger of restrictive net neutrality rules in this context." 'via Blog this'

Zephyr Teachout: Supreme Court Pick Neil Gorsuch “Sides with Big Business, Big Donors & Big Bosses”

Zephyr Teachout: Supreme Court Pick Neil Gorsuch “Sides with Big Business, Big Donors & Big Bosses”: "You see this incredible concentration. A lot of that comes from Justice Scalia and other people in the Chicago school, the law and economics school, believing that we should gut antitrust and basically allow monopolists to gather power. And in these two antitrust opinions, Judge Gorsuch shows that he is really with the—with that Chicago school, and, in fact, suggested he might go even farther saying, “Well, one of the reasons people go into business is the capacity to get monopoly rent, so we don’t want to discourage people for going into business,” instead of understanding, as Justice Brandeis and the true lions of our democratic past understood, that antitrust law was really critical for challenging excessive concentrations of power." 'via Blog this'

Donald Trump's FCC Chairman Spreads More Alternative Facts About Net Neutrality | Free Press

Donald Trump's FCC Chairman Spreads More Alternative Facts About Net Neutrality | Free Press: "“Pai keeps repeating the utterly debunked claim that the FCC’s Net Neutrality rules are utility-style regulations that are hurting broadband deployment. This is false on the law and false on the facts. It ignores not just the actual language of the FCC order, which explicitly forbears from the bulk of Title II, but the actual impact that Title II reclassification has had on the market.

 “Pai’s claim that Net Neutrality protections have created great uncertainty in the marketplace is a flat-out lie, as is his notion of flatlining investment by internet service providers. We long ago discredited these claims. 


“Pai’s frequent charge that investment has declined is based on the claims made by one industry-paid analyst, who selectively edits the figures reported by some of these companies. But if you take account of the industry’s spending as a whole, you’ll see that broadband-industry investment was nearly 9 percent higher in the two years following the FCC’s 2015 Open Internet Order than it was in the two years prior." 'via Blog this'