Does a ban on zero rating risk throwing the baby out with the bathwater?

[Commentary] Zero rating has been demonstrated under some circumstances to both enhance competition and benefit consumers. Therefore, zero rating is an imperfect proxy for the harm Harvard's Susan Crawford perceives. By pursuing such a proxy, Crawford’s proposition threatens to throw the baby out with the bathwater. If Professor Crawford’s underlying concern is that that zero rating could be used for anti-competitive purposes, but others have shown that it can also be pro-competitive then, like collaboration, a conditional prohibition on the anti-competitive use only would be less harmful -- and less controversial -- than an outright ban.

[Bronwyn Howell is General Manager for the New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation]