TIA to FTC: Find Balance Between Connectivity, Network management

TIA weighed in on the contentious issue of net neutrality in a filing for the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Broadband Connectivity Competition Workshop on February 13-14 in Washington, D.C. In its filing, TIA argued that government regulators can balance consumers' connection rights while also allowing broadband Internet access providers to remain free to manage the network and provide consumers the enriched and robust experience they expect. (TIA's filing for the FTC Broadband Connectivity Workshop is available at http://www.tiaonline.org/policy/publications/filings/documents/FTCNNComments020507_000.pdf)

TIA also encouraged lawmakers to refrain from imposing regulations that would create deterrents to investment and undermine the growth of broadband. We believe that any potential action a federal agency takes could ripple through industry and affect consumers, network providers, and service and application providers in ways that the public debate is only beginning to consider.

Influential leaders such as Robert Kahn agree. In remarks given recently at a Computer History Museum meeting in Mountain View, Ca., and reported on in Great Britain's The Register, Kahn, the co-developer of TCP/IP and a central figure in the creation and development of the Internet, said that legislation mandating net neutrality posed more of a danger than fragmentation. Like most engineers responsible for developing the Internet, Kahn believes the Internet is "still pretty fragile today" and too nascent to withstand certain versions of net neutrality.

In its FTC filing, TIA noted that there are different ways to define "net neutrality." Generally, it refers to the principles that broadband Internet access service providers should neither hinder how consumers lawfully use the network, including what devices they attach to it, nor discriminate against content providers in gaining access to that network. Some net neutrality advocates take this to a pernicious end, suggesting that all packets must be treated the same, precluding even reasonable and necessary network management and discouraging innovation inside the network. TIA believes that consumers can get better access to high-bandwidth services like Voice-over Internet Protocol if government allows broadband providers some ability to manage the flow of traffic or ensure quality of service over their networks.

Finally, TIA urged the FTC and other government regulators to consider TIA's "connectivity principles" when debating "network neutrality" issues. TIA's Broadband Internet Access Connectivity Principles state that consumers should always have the right to access legal Internet content, but that broadband providers should also be free to manage their networks in order to provide the best possible service to their customers. (TIA's Broadband Internet Access Connectivity Principles can be downloaded at
http://www.tiaonline.org/policy/publications/white%5Fpapers/documents/
TIABroadbandInternetAccessConnectivityPrinciples_000.pdf)

TIA believes the issues surrounding broadband connectivity, including convergence, quality of service, prioritization of data, network neutrality, competition, innovation, security, and consumer protection, should only be handled by regulators in the least invasive manner possible and only when there is a clearly demonstrated need. In short, the advice that has guided the medical profession for centuries is equally applicable in guarding the long-term health of the Internet, arguably technology's most dynamic "patient": first do no harm.

Sincerely,
Grant Seiffert
President
Telecommunications Industry Association