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  2. February 2016

February 2016

T-Mobile to FCC: 'Tread lightly'

T-Mobile is calling on the Federal Communications Commission to "tread lightly" as the agency looks into a series of video offerings that have raised network neutrality concerns among advocates.

The mobile carrier has been at the center of the debate recently with its new Binge On video program, which exempts certain video from customers' monthly data caps but also reduces the download speeds of all video. "The commission has to tread lightly," said Kathleen Ham, who head's T-Mobile's government affairs. "And certainly more lightly than for the wired world in the wireless space — when there is so much experimentation happening, so much differentiation happening. And a lot of it customers responding to. We do have to be transparent about it. We have to make sure the customer has choices, but I think it is wise to tread lightly in this environment when there is so much going on." During a event hosted by the the Open Technology Institute, Ham said conversations were ongoing with the commission. The FCC has sent letters and been meeting with multiple mobile carriers to try and understand similar programs that exempt certain Internet traffic from data caps — a business model known as zero-rating.

The FCC Broadband Report You Didn't Hear About

If you follow broadband policy, you probably know that the Federal Communications Commission recently released its annual Broadband Progress Report (often referred to as the Section 706 Report) in which it concludes (erroneously) that broadband is not being deployed in a reasonable and timely manner. But did you hear about the other broadband report issued by the FCC during the week of Jan 25, the one demonstrating how deployment and performance of broadband in the United States is far outpacing European broadband? Didn’t think so.

Given all the negative commentary from the FCC majority on the state of deployment in the US, you could be forgiven for thinking that the US would not fare well in the international comparison. But in fact the FCC’s international report demonstrates that American broadband performance is well ahead of our friends in Europe. Based on the comparison to European broadband, the FCC’s conclusion that deployment in the US is not reasonable and timely is hard to fathom. It does not seem too much to ask that the FCC take its own factual findings seriously rather than continuing to perpetuate the fiction that American broadband is languishing.

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