The wireless industry's lobbyists are keen to influence policy makers in Washington on a number of key issues - most notably net neutrality. CTIA, which represents the country's biggest wireless carriers, is the organization flexing its muscle with the help of front man, former Oklahoma congressman and Hall of Fame NFL wide receiver, Steve Largent.
In an interview with C|Net, Steve Largent, along with Chris Guttman-McCabe, talked about how the members of its group feel about net neutrality. Of course, no one will be surprised on how they feel about: they think it's a bad idea. When asked why wireless be treated differently than any other kind of broadband service, Guttman-McCabe and Largent responded with the following:
Guttman-McCabe: Not necessarily. There have always been instances in communications regulation where services are regulated differently. If you look at wireline and wireless networks, they are regulated differently. Satellite is regulated differently. Cable is treated different from broadcast TV and the list goes on.
Largent: The real difference is that wireless has spectrum constraints. So it must be treated differently. I mean you look at the usage of wireless service and smartphones and there are already constraints in some markets like New York City and San Francisco. There have already been a lot of complaints in those places.
When asked about what his group has been hearing from the FCC on plans to reclassify wireless alongside broadband internet, Largent said that he has been "getting mixed signals" but expects that it will in fact be reclassified and subject to the net neutrality regulations.
Finally, Largent said that Net Neutrality is not good for anyone:
Largent: We don't think Net neutrality regulations should apply to anybody. And we definitely don't think they should apply to the wireless industry. So we're working to educate the commission about that.
You can read the full interview on C|Net.
Comments
Re: CTIA: Net Neutrality Not Good for Anyone
The last group our governments should be allowing to get away with this are the wireless groups. They have destroyed competition and consumer confidence in the industry COMPLETELY. Very few other industries have so successfully made themselves hated as wireless, and it's not even a uniquely American endeavour... look at Canada's wireless market for an example of how NOT to do things. 3 year contracts? Some of the highest prices IN THE WORLD? For a country that used to be a leader in digital technologies, this is pretty embarrassing.
Re: CTIA: Net Neutrality Not Good for Anyone
Lobbying and poor regulation will destroy any country....
Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy! CP/IP laws should not effect the daily life of common people! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
Copyright infringement is nothing more than civil disobedience to a bad set of laws. Let's renegotiate them.
---
http://zippydsm.deviantart.com/
Re: CTIA: Net Neutrality Not Good for Anyone
CyberSkull
Pretty much they should make it illegal to chrge for texting, they should be forced to treat time as data and vice versa. 50$ a month gets to 10GB of bandwidth, 25 gets you 5GB.
Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy! CP/IP laws should not effect the daily life of common people! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
Copyright infringement is nothing more than civil disobedience to a bad set of laws. Let's renegotiate them.
---
http://zippydsm.deviantart.com/
Re: CTIA: Net Neutrality Not Good for Anyone
Net Neutrality should be enforced for all delivery methods. However, some should be more regulated than other. Because of the shenanigans they are famous for, the wireless industry should be looked at with a more severe eye than the wired delivery. Already the wireless industry engages in predatory pricing for wireless data services.
Text messaging is a perfect example. They charge an obscene amount of money to send a string that fits into 1 single TCP packet. 1. To people without a plan, it's literally a nickel or dime for the most trivial of network transmissions.