Big Telecom tried to kill network neutrality before it was even a concept

[Commentary] We’ve only reached this pivotal moment in the network neutrality debate because of past efforts by corporate lobbyists and their political allies to weaken the government’s ability to protect the open Internet. Without the telecommunications industry’s massive power to design policies in its favor, the government would most likely already have the authority it needs to ensure net neutrality.

In 2000 the DSL industry was dominated by the four remaining companies from the breakup of the old AT&T monopoly -- Verizon, BellSouth, SBC Communications, and Qwest. These companies, commonly referred to as the “Baby Bells,” still operated regional monopolies and therefore were required under the 1996 bill to allow other carriers to access their networks. Because of this requirement, a new and growing industry of startup ISPs (competitive local exchange carriers, or CLECs) had begun leasing copper-line infrastructure from the Bells and offering competing broadband service to customers on their lines. Not surprisingly, as the Baby Bells rolled out their DSL service, they saw the cable industry’s more relaxed regulations and total lack of competition and wanted the same treatment from the government. They launched a massive lobbying effort to push the Clinton and Bush administrations, the Federal Communication Commission, and Congress to eliminate the network sharing requirement that had spawned the CLEC market and to deregulate DSL services more broadly.

[Shaw is a freelance journalist covering money in politics, tech, monopoly power and the legislative process.]