Cable Ties Itself Up in Net Neutrality Knots

CABLE TIES ITSELF UP IN NET NEUTRALITY KNOTS
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Art Brodsky]
[Commentary] Cable has now joined the telephone industry in hanging itself up on Net Neutrality issues. Advance, Charter, Cablevision, Cox and Insight, told the Commission in a Sept. 27 filing their Voice over IP services are at risk because of what the telephone companies might do to thwart competition. The filing noted: “In the head-to-head competition with cable, the ILECs (incumbent local exchange carriers, aka telephone companies), have a powerful weapon -- their ability to discriminate against cable’s voice service by imposing unreasonable, costly interconnection requirements. This is clearly the case with AT&T.” This merger, the cable companies said, “will increase AT&T’s incentives and ability to wield its market power over interconnection against its cable competitions. AT&T has the incentive and ability to discriminate against cable’s voice service to retain its own customers.” The companies want the Commission to impose detailed conditions on the merger which govern interconnection, traffic flow and the like. There is a certain logic to their argument. After all, everyone is in favor of equal competition. Certainly the competitive carriers, not including cable, have been making that case for months. However, sympathy only goes so far when one also factors in that the cable companies which so fervently want equal competition for themselves against telephone companies aren't so keen on it when competing with companies like Vonage.
http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/670