[A2k] European Network neutrality debate

[jeff@democraticmedia.org]

Communications Daily, June 16, 2006 (US)



FCC 'Net Freedoms' Apply

EC Telecom Review To Take Up but Not Impose Net Neutrality

 The net neutrality debate hasn't hit the fever pitch in Europe it has in
the U.S., but it's only a matter of
time, officials said.  Industry players and analysts "know that it will
become an important issue over the next 6-
12 months" as most telcos roll out Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) and many
invest in content, said analyst Martin
Olausson of Strategy Analytics.  The EC, which says it doesn=92t intend to
regulate in this area, will nevertheless
will discuss it in a June 28 communique on its review of the
e-communications regulatory framework, sources
close to the Commission said Thurs.


 Until recently, net neutrality was deemed largely an American issue.  The
"regulatory environment in
the U.S. is very different to the situation in the EU where local loop
unbundling (LLU) markets and other
wholesale broadband products are regulated to underpin the prospect of
sustainable competition in broadband
markets," U.K. Office of Communications Chief Policy Partner Kip Meek told
us.  The EU regulatory frame-
work "provides a degree of [preemptive] regulatory intervention in
infrastructure markets from the beginning,"
he said.  Regulators have the power to handle competition problems in
unregulated markets, and are committed
to a "level playing field in infrastructure," he said.

 LLU lets any company offer DSL over an incumbent's network, Olausson said
in May.  That opens the field
for competitors to run new services atop the network, he said.  Net
neutrality is more important in the U.S., where
cable operators and telcos wage facilities-based competition and companies
such as Google have no guaranteed
network access to offer unbundled services.

 Net neutrality arguments in Europe concern only next-generation networks
(NGNs) such as Deutsche Tele-
kom's (DT) VDSL fiber system, Olausson said.  The question is "who will be
able to use the infrastructure," some-
thing not at issue in the U.S., he said.

 As yet there's no "hot news," but net neutrality shows up increasingly in
discussions with industry, Olaus-
son said more recently.  Once telcos offer IPTV and content, "it will be
very tempting for them to try to keep users
in their 'walled garden' to protect their investment," he said.  If Apple,
say, offers a service competing with British
Telecom (BT) IPTV service, "BT will have an incentive to try to limit the
effects of such a competitor by either
blocking it or making sure it gets a piece of the revenue," he said.

 In April, DT and Telecom Italia were reported to be lobbying the EC for
the right to charge Google and oth-
ers for carrying their content.  "Some telecom operators have indeed
mentioned this issue to the Commission in bi-
lateral meetings," Information Society & Media Comr. Viviane Reding's
spokesman told us then.  But, he said, the
EC had made not concrete request for regulatory intervention.

 BT said then it was satisfied with current regulations, admitting its
position could change.  "Genuinely com-
petitive markets like the one in the U.K. address many of the issues that
the neutrality debate is throwing up," a BT
spokesman said at the time.  BT services are designed around what all
customers -- consumers and other service
providers -- want.  Nevertheless, he said, the issue is "gathering
momentum" and, if the regulatory regime were to
change, BT's stance might as well.

 The EC communique is expected to say a key aim is to ensure that the
Internet stays open to new service offer-
ings and to consumers wanting to access, create and distribute the
services of their choice, said sources close to the EC.

 The EC is expected to say that operators can offer different services to
different customer groups but
dominant players may not discriminate between customers in similar
circumstances.  But due to a risk that in
some cases quality of service could degrade unacceptably, the EC will
propose giving national regulatory au-
thorities (NRAs) the power to set minimum quality levels for network
transmission services on NGNs based
on technical standards set at EU level.

 The EC line likely will be that NRAs already have power to impose
antitrust rules on operators with signifi-
cant market power and to address access and interconnection issues,
officials said.  That power could be used to
prevent blocking of information society services or degradation in the
quality of e-communications services for 3rd
parties, as well as to require interoperability, they said.

 The communique likely will say the 4 FCC "net freedoms"-- users' rights
to access and distribute lawful
content, run applications and connect devices of their choice -- are
"equally applicable in Europe," the sources said.
But the EC seems to maintain that those freedoms are "best regarded as
general guidelines" for regulators and pol-
icy-makers, not laws. -- Dugie Standeford