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The Federal Trade Commission issued its 'Broadband Connectivity Competition Policy' report and suggested caution on enacting net neutrality regulations.

FTC Cool To Net Neutrality

The FTC's Internet Access Task Force thinks all is well in the world of broadband connectivity in the United States.

"This report recommends that policy makers proceed with caution in the evolving, dynamic industry of broadband Internet access, which generally is moving toward more - not less - competition," Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras said in a statement.

As to the issues of "data prioritization, exclusive deals, and vertical integration into online content and applications," Majoras said these could benefit consumers. "We do not know what the net effects of potential conduct by broadband providers will be on all consumers, including, among other things, the prices that consumers may pay for Internet access," she said.

A concurring statement by Commissioner Jon Leibowitz took issue with the idea that legislation to protect consumers may not be needed:

There is a real reason to fear that, without additional protections, some broadband companies may have strong financial incentives to restrict access to content and applications.

One way this might happen is by now well understood by almost everyone – a broadband provider with monopoly power in a local market might use that power to block or degrade some applications or content that compete with applications or content the broadband company itself provides.

Leibowitz also cited how a broadband market without net neutrality could become an economic two-sided market that benefits only the broadband providers:

Once a consumer chooses a broadband provider, then that provider has monopoly power over access to that consumer for any application or content provider that wants to reach that customer. If a large national broadband provider were to begin charging Internet application and content providers to reach its customers, it would have monopoly power over access to potentially millions of customers nationwide.

This problem, which the Report identifies as a “terminating access monopoly,” is not new. In fact, this issue has bedeviled public policy in the telecommunications industry for years.

A round of criticism of the report came from the Save The Internet group:

But the agency’s conclusions largely ignore broadband reality. Millions of Americans can’t access or afford high-speed Internet services, and the United States continues to slip in every global ranking of broadband progress.

Yet while the FTC twiddles it thumbs, the same phone and cable companies whose anti-competitive policies created this sorry situation are now proposing to become gatekeepers over Internet content and services.