Should all Internet content be treated equally? Would businesses be willing to pay higher tolls for an express lane on the information superhighway? For those keeping track, those are just two of the concerns voiced in worldwide discussions and court battles over net neutrality, which could have a major impact on the cloud, managed services and many other segments of the IT channel.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is officially accepting comments from the public over its newly proposed rules. Officials expect the agency to have them finalized by the end of 2014. While these bureaucrats may amend or even rewrite aspects of the planned regulations, their Open Internet Initiative focuses on three basic principles:
Transparency: All Internet service providers (ISPs) must transparently disclose to their subscribers and users all relevant information as to the policies that govern their network.
No Blocking: No legal content may be blocked.
No Unreasonable Discrimination: ISPs may not act in a commercially unreasonable manner to harm the Internet, including favoring the traffic from an affiliated entity.
The three principles appear to be a significantly watered-down version of the rules overturned earlier this year by the United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit. In their reversal of a lower court ruling against Verizon, magistrates suggested the agency overreached its authority by preventing broadband service providers from slowing down or blocking specific Web traffic. The carrier had challenged the 2010 FCC rule requiring high-speed Internet providers to adhere to open network management practices. With this latest decision going in favor of the large Internet carriers, the long-term repercussions for businesses, end-users and solution providers are unclear.
What ISPs Can Expect
Based on the FCC’s Open Internet proposal, ISPs are not restricted from slowing traffic to those unwilling to pay a premium for the bandwidth they already receive. That will undoubtedly make it more difficult for smaller Web-powered organizations to compete against their larger peers. Content hosting services with deep pockets — think Netflix and YouTube — could have an unfair advantage over the competition. In a statement released after the high court ruling, FCC Chair Tom Wheeler claims that won’t be the case: “Major Internet service providers have indicated that they will continue to honor the safeguards articulated in the 2010 Open Internet Order.”
That’s not a 100 percent guarantee for an Internet commerce status quo in the long-term, but channel organizations shouldn’t expect any big changes in the next few month. One of the biggest net-neutrality concerns centers on future infrastructure investments. Will ISPs spend more to enhance services for their largest customers? Of course they will! Sensible businesses focus more attention on key clients and the best growth opportunities. Regardless of whether there’s an Open Internet Initiative in place, ISPs will continue to expand bandwidth to areas where it is needed most — and where it’s most profitable.
In other words, when there’s an economic reason to boost bandwidth or improve service options in a community or business center to support content-creating customers, providers are more likely to make those upgrades. Open Internet rules and net neutrality won’t impact those variables unless ISPs are able to pull current resources from lower-usage areas to feed high-growth customers. Will this type of discrimination really happen — and what does it mean for the solution provider community?
If competition is allowed to progress naturally, with no federal intervention, the impact of the new rules on the IT channel and business customers will be minimal. Of course, there is cause for concern if the federal government continues to allow consolidation between ISPs or reduces incentives for upgrading Internet infrastructure in underserved communities. Again, that’s something that would happen with or without the Open Internet Initiative.
Service levels, rates and bandwidth will continue to vary for different areas and carriers — as they have since the advent of the World Wide Web. Of course, solution providers should pay attention to the news around net neutrality and support the efforts of the CompTIA public advocacy team. They are a strong voice in Washington for the IT channel and help support the industry’s state and local government level efforts as well. Regardless of the level of involvement you choose, always be aware of how issues like net neutrality could affect your organization as well as your clients’ businesses.
Brian Sherman is founder of Tech Success Communications, specializing in editorial content and consulting for the IT channel. His previous roles include chief editor at Business Solutions magazine and senior director of industry alliances with Autotask. Contact Brian at Bsherman@techsuccesscommunications.com.
