Net Neutrality Scramble Spells Fights to Come

The Biden administration and California attorney general’s office are now trying to hash out how to resolve lingering uncertainty about the operation of a telehealth app called VA Video Connect. The federal Veterans Affairs Department raised concerns about the app’s future because wireless carriers subsidize its data usage costs for veterans in ways that a new California net neutrality law forbids (a situation, ISPs say, that could imperil offerings beyond just California). T-Mobile said its “ability to zero-rate this application and ensure this critical service remains available is now in danger” and that it’s working “closely” with the government and VA “to do the right thing here, which is to continue to offer these needed services.” AT&T, too, said it’s still reviewing whether it can keep offering this service under California law. “This confusion and potential unintended harmful consequence is an example of the need for a rational, uniform, consumer-friendly federal regulatory framework that applies equally to all in the internet ecosystem,” AT&T added. Advocates broadly dispute the need for any of these so-called free data offerings because they say wireless giants shouldn’t cap consumers’ data at all. The AG’s office is eyeing what’s permissible now and maintains that ISPs could provide additional data to veterans to allow them to access telehealth services through the VA or other providers without cost. Expect these debates to fuel plenty of lobbying around Democrats’ likely revival of national open internet protections and how potential federal rules deal with these zero-rated services. The repealed Obama-era FCC rules had considered such instances of zero-rating on a case-by-case basis, which the telecom industry also didn’t love.