Mobile industry makes the pro-goodies case for non-neutral networks

Speaking at the GSMA Mobile 360 event in Atlanta, CTIA CEO Meredith Attwell Baker declared that mobile Internet service providers aren't backing away from the idea that key to surviving in the wireless marketplace is, increasingly, the digital bonuses they offer -- goodies that could be prohibited under strong network neutrality rules.

"Given the clear, competitive import of network management to retain and attract subscribers," she said, "I will never understand why the government would intervene now, and even contemplate hamstringing disruptive competitors or reducing the competitive energy around delivering the best network experience." In the mobile realm, such goodies are known in the developing world as zero-rated apps. In the United States, they are offered under the banner of "sponsored data" and under names like T-Mobile's Music Freedom.

Those apps raise questions about whether they favor some providers of digital at the expense of others, but Baker is hinting here at the idea that they'll only become more prevalent as cell phone service companies compete.