$36B auction shows network neutrality is no threat to investment

When President Barack Obama called for network neutrality, AT&T said the sky would fall. It warned that a policy banning internet providers from giving special treatment to some websites over others would lead companies to stop investing in new network capacity. So much for that.

As of Nov 25, an airwave auction by the FCC is still going gangbusters as companies scramble for a series of spectrum licenses that will let them deliver more data and stream more video to consumer cellphones. While most people expected the bidding to exceed the $10 billion reserve price set by the agency, the FCC has already raked in more than triple that -- bids have exceeded $36 billion, and the auction is still going. Companies like T-Mobile, Dish and, yes, AT&T are all participating in the bidding. All of this is occurring despite the fact that the airwaves in question could and (in Gigaom’s view) should be subject to so-called Title II regulation, a type of net neutrality that would ban companies from providing fast lanes for some websites, while slowing down others. In other words, contrary to AT&T’s warning that the specter of Title II would chill investment, what we’re seeing instead is wireless companies -- who have long fought net neutrality tooth and nail -- falling over themselves to buy up resources that will let them offer consumers more internet.