ISPs Oppose Net Neutrality Proposal by the FCC
The FCC’s plan to strengthen the net neutrality guidelines by backing them up with legislation is facing stiff opposition from the ISPs themselves. The FCC, which is the governing body for the telecommunications industry in the US, has been trying to back up the rules with legislation for quite some time now, much to the disappointment of the ISPs, who see it as a move to limit their discretionary powers.
The ISPs to a large degree control what sites subscribers can view and at what speeds. This can be connected to the revenue sharing deals with content providers. Comcast’s executive vice president for broadband, David L. Cohen, claims that the FCC rules will create more problems than resolving the existing ones. He adds that the net neutrality debate has been raging for quite some time now, and yet the internet has managed to grow at a phenomenal rate.
Wired’s Dylan F. Tweney has a slightly different take on the issue. He says that the enforcement of net neutrality would force service providers to hike rates for subscribers. This would mean caps on internet usage and a shift to the pay-as-you-go model, instead of the current fixed rate plans.
Though this reaction is expected from the ISPs, what is shocking is the level of control these service providers exert over the market, which is unlike the market scenario in the
