Google-Verizon Internet Agreement Said to Be Studied by FCC
Federal regulators said today they will weigh how rules regulating Internet traffic should treat mobile phones, three weeks after Google Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. proposed exempting wireless Web service.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement today that the agency will seek public comment on wireless Internet service and what regulations should say about “specialized services” that companies could offer for extra payment.
Google and Verizon in a proposal on Aug. 9 recommended sparing wireless service from government restrictions, and allowing what they called “additional online services.”
“Recent events have highlighted questions on how open Internet rules should apply to ’specialized’ services and to mobile broadband," Genachowski said today in an e-mailed statement. ‘‘The issues are complex, and the details matter.”
At issue is whether Internet-service companies may selectively block or slow subscribers’ Web traffic.
Advocates of restrictions on Internet providers say the companies may use their control over networks to discriminate against competitors. Video services owned by the companies or business partners might be delivered to subscribers at top speed while competitors are slowed or blocked.
Rules are needed to “to preserve Internet openness, helping ensure a future of opportunity, innovation and a vibrant marketplace of ideas,” Genachowski said in a September 2009 speech proposing regulations.
Comcast Corp., the largest U.S. cable company, AT&T Inc., the biggest U.S. phone company, and other Internet access providers have said new regulations aren’t needed and would damp investment.
To contact the reporter on this story: Todd Shields in Washington at tshields3@bloomberg.net
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