What could wake The 463 up from a temporary work-induced slumber? How 'bout fighting words like:
"They don't have any fiber out there. They don't have any wires. They don't have anything," he argues. "They use my lines for free -- and that's bull. For a Google or a Yahoo! or a Vonage or anybody to expect to use these pipes for free is nuts!"
All this courtesy of SBC CEO Ed Whitacre in a recent BusinessWeek interview.
So, three cheers to Whitacre for so eloquently kicking the previously esoteric "Net Neutrality" debate into the sphere of the interesting And, indeed, hyperbole or not, it will only get more interesting as battle lines are drawn and the fight is played out.
Of course, Whitacre wasn't just talking pretty to impress visiting journalists in September. He was hoping to influence the FCC as they reviewed his pending merger with AT&T. And, just last week the FCC said that...
The big mergers would be forced into "voluntary commitments" to honor the FCC's Net Neutrality principals. From the National Journal:
The agency accepted several other temporary conditions imposed on the merged entities. For a period of two years, the firms must abide by FCC policy on "Net neutrality" by not restricting a customer's access to rivals' Web sites and software.
How do some in the Internet community view SBC's perspective on Net Neutrality? From Dana Blankenhorn at Corante:
Frankly, Mr. Whitacre is an idiot. There are many reasons why net neutrality, and not paid content access, will triumph in the U.S.:
- Google is one of the largest owners of dark fiber in the world. That's what their San Francisco WiFi bid is really all about. They need to fill that fiber, and WiFi can easily render wired phones (and lines) obsolete.
- Sprint has some interesting deals going with cable companies that create a "triple play" with cable networks combining phone, mobile, and television service. Network neutrality in that offering could cause millions to switch off their phones.
- Level 3 can easily link their fiber backhaul capacity to new providers via WiFi and WiMax, delivering another alternative for consumers.
- People aren't stupid. Consumers understand what the concept of network neutrality means. If it's threatened they will demand it from regulators and Congress.
- The U.S. is an increasingly small portion of the Internet. Continued slow growth will make the U.S. an economic backwater, and people know that.
On the other hand, the folks at Progress & Freedom Foundation say:
Those who wish "neutrality" on network providers based on some notion that, in the end, mandates like these won't implicate other Internet companies should be careful what they wish for. (For more see here).
This will get interesting...
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