Life is a Freeway
November 3, 2006

Net Neutrality is a topic that keeps crossing my desk this year.

Whatever the outcome of this debate, this has the potential to be as defining an event for our culture, as the advent of the 'net was ten years ago.

Many of my counterparts at independent cable companies and large multisystem operators will have a variety of opinions on the matter of how to control the growth of Internet Protocol traffic on their networks.

Opponents of net neutrality (that folks who believe that the operators of an IP network should have the right to prioritize traffic) argue that Internet service providers should receive remuneration from profiteering content providers clashes with the idealist's view that the Internet should remain a pure and unregulated haven for the free exchange of ideas.

At first glance it may appear easy to choose sides as cable operator. Operators do not want to give others a free ride on their networks and are also fearful of loosing their video business to digital downloads. However the value of cable’s high-speed Internet service is based on the existence of an open and free network and a compromise of such a design might in fact compromise the value and integrity of the current world-wide interconnection of data networks we know as The Internet.

The Internet was founded on the principle of public service and education. It is only until more recently that its commercial potential has been realized. This potential, however, is predicated on the fact that it is an open and free method of communication. If an a company that controls access to the Internet chooses to control the flow of information, it in fact could be faced with tremendous public backlash and be branded by consumers as a network with the equivalent of a radar speed trap -- a virtual turnpike to be avoided for a faster freeway route.

Should other ISPs choose to choke competitive products on their national networks it could be an opportunity for cable operators to capitalize on the market value of providing a true open information freeway.

Don’t misunderstand my position. I accept that an operator should have the right to segment the data traveling on its network tomaintain a particular quality of service for its own IP based products.For instance, VoIP lifeline telephony should not be compromised by file- sharing and internet downloads.

However, selling premium access to select content providers and choking all else will weaken the market value of cable internet service.ISPs and cable operators who choose to oppose net neutrality should consider not only the negative PR but also the long-term effects of the value of the Internet as a product, if they begin to selectively control throughput for select content providers.

Limiting smaller content providers’ ability to reach a consumer via a particular ISP, in fact, could stifle the very explosive growth of the Internet which has made high-speed Internet service so ubiquitous and so profitable to operators.

As Internet growth continues, the need for speed is bringing down wholesale prices, making upgrades more affordable than ever. Considering that high-speed Internet access as a product is cheap to offer as compared to TV, investments should be in the infrastructure to provide the best uninhibited connections.

Cable operators of all sizes should seize this as an opportunity to provide premium speeds to those consumers who are willing to pay extra. Going forward premium speed offerings without content restrictions can be made with excellent profit margins and even better PR.

For example: service provider “A” is unable to convince Google to pay for premium access to their providers and decides to limit Google's access to its network.Net neutral service provider “B” suddenly has a tremendous consumer marketing advantage as they provide an unregulated path in and out.

The real value of the Internet to the consumer is the raging changes that happen in the immediate world of instantaneous communication.Remember, YouTube and MySpace weren't created by their current corporate owners, they were acquired.Would they have existed at all without the current state of net neutrality?

Cable can ... force a few “preferred vendors” to pay for access to your customers and generate the uncreative and un-stimulated toll-road model that doomed AOL’s “Main Menu” of preferred services five years ago. Or provide a lightning fast freeway and become the consumers' choice for a high-speed connection.

Posted by on November 3, 2006 | Comments (2)