Network Neutrality could Hobble Initiative

NETWORK NEUTRALITY COULD HOBBLE INITIATIVE
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Brent Wilkes, League of United Latin American Citizens]
[Commentary] Rather than expanding Internet opportunities, network neutrality could sharply curtail them. They would slow down growth of new competitive broadband services by outlawing the ability of an entrepreneur to raise needed capital for a new wireless broadband network by partnering with an Internet content provider. Experts predict that Internet data traffic will increase 500-fold by 2020 as demand increases for multimedia applications. Bernstein Research and other investment advisers estimate that deploying ultra-high-speed networks capable of handling this traffic will require an investment of up to $400 billion. But investors won't invest, innovators won't partner and new services won't emerge, if the government mandates that incumbent Internet bigwigs be guaranteed the same business arrangements, at no cost to them, regardless of the inherent value of the service they seek to bring to the market. Regulatory restraint has fostered the growth of today's Internet, and it should govern in the development of tomorrow's Internet as well. We don't need sweeping new government regulation when there's not a scintilla of evidence that market forces won't keep the Internet as open and accessible to diverse viewpoints as it has always been. Policy makers need to be especially careful not to pass new regulations at the behest of powerful corporations that may have unintended consequences for the American consumer and choke the entrepreneurial energy so fundamental to the growth and vibrancy of the Internet.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/16106404.htm