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Broadband Regulation and Rural America

Broadband Regulation and Rural America. Wally Bowen Executive Director Mountain Area Information Network Asheville, N.C. 24 May 2010. Why should rural America care about “Net Neutrality”?. Without NN, broadband providers can . . . * engage in discriminatory practices . . .

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Broadband Regulation and Rural America

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  1. Broadband Regulation and Rural America Wally Bowen Executive Director Mountain Area Information Network Asheville, N.C. 24 May 2010

  2. Why should rural America care about “Net Neutrality”? Without NN, broadband providers can . . . * engage in discriminatory practices . . . * favor the data of a Fortune 500 client (e.g., Bank of America) over a locally-owned business (e.g., Hometown Bank) * approve an application or device from GE, while banning the same from Joe's Electronics.

  3. Without NN, broadband providers can . . . * charge rural subscribers higher access rates * route rural broadband traffic onto secondary channels, while reserving “express” channels for corporate clients.

  4. Consider the U.S. Postal Service * treats first-class mail the same whether it originates in Miami or Minot, SD * same rates for express-mail everywhere

  5. Net Neutrality protects our freedom . . . * to roam the Web without gatekeepers 1891 – Almon Strowger patents the first telephone switch in Topeka, KS, leading to “common carrier” rules * to tinker, innovate and connect devices without ISP approval. 1958 – Texas cattle-rancher Tom Carter builds and markets the 'Carterfone.' AT&T bans the device. 1968 – FCC approves the Carterfone rules.

  6. Net Neutrality opponents argue that . . . * NN regulations will limit network investment, broadband deployment, and competition; * instead, competition and the market's “invisible hand” will protect consumers. But broadband competition is rare in rural America.

  7. Is Broadband a Utility? Utilities are natural monopolies (e.g. water, electricity, natural gas) Distribution technologies (wires and pipes) prevent competition. Is broadband a utility?

  8. Is Broadband a Utility? * “Middle-Mile” fiber is clearly a utility * “Last-Mile” wireless could support competition with spectrum reform. “Rethinking Spectrum Policy: A Fiber Intensive Wireless Architecture” Aspen Institute, March 16, 2010

  9. Good News and Bad News * Digital network technologies are affordable, scalable, and easily adapted to rural areas. * Rural electric & telephone co-ops are proven models for rural broadband networks * Local/regional networks reverse the IT “brain drain” from rural communities * Boost local economies by keeping IT dollars and jobs local.

  10. Good News and Bad News, cont. * Create local opportunities for innovation, job- training, and small-business incubation * Unleash competition and market forces to enforce open networks and net neutrality * Rebuild the Internet's original, decentralized architecture, reducing exposure to cyber-attacks, and strengthening national security.

  11. Good News and Bad News, cont. However, the National Broadband Plan . . . * treats rural co-op networks as an historical artifact (Rural Electrification Act of 1936) * focuses on creating incentives for commercial carriers to serve rural areas * proposes licensing spectrum to ISPs for “advertising-supported” broadband.

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