Ditching net neutrality ‘risks irreversible harm’

A new report, however, has tackled many network neutrality arguments head on — and it has come to a forceful conclusion. In a paper titled “The open Internet – a platform for growth”, London-based consultancy Plum says that many of the arguments put forward by telcos are “myths”. And far from bandwidth-heavy services being problematic for broadband providers, it says, the reality is that actually require services in order to keep growing — which means network neutrality is vital.

The conclusion is, perhaps, unsurprising — particularly given that the report was commissioned by a consortium of content and software companies: the BBC and Channel 4 (traditional broadcasters with heavy interests in online video), video-on-demand company Blinkbox, as well as Yahoo and Skype.

But its findings are backed up with numbers. Residential service providers voice concerns that too much data is being used by customers, putting them in a dangerous position — but the reality is that the broadband industry across Europe is worth €155 billion, and that value is growing as broadband demand increases. Indeed, while fixed-line providers complain about data use, mobile networks say data is an important revenue driver for them.