More Thoughts on Net Neutrality

There are two issues before the FCC this week. The Chairman's proposal for Net Neutrality, basically the "mail opening" proposal to charge the consumer for what is inside their mail, and the 3.5 GHz open band.

Consider if you will what may happen.

First, content providers are spread out across the world like polka dots on a map. They need to get to customers.

Second, there are many large broadband backbone entities that can get to the content providers but not to the customers. The largest are Level 3 and Google. Yes Google! Remember that fact.

Third, we poor customers need to get to that backbone so we subscribe at some extortionary rate to a local provider, say a cable company. The cable companies are now trying to lock us in and make us pay even more.

Fourth, the 3.5 GHz frequency band with 150 MHz of bandwidth is a shared band and could in effect bypass the cable guys and allow us to get in excess of 1 Gbps connect to that backbone out there. It could do so at a low cost. A very low cost. This is the basis of disintermediation, namely a new technology which changes the way things are done.

Fifth, thus the FCC may be sending a poison pill to the cable guys and there may eventually be the demise of these trolls.

Sixth, on the other hand if Google uses its backbone and if it captures this band then perhaps we have created a new AT&T pre-Divestiture.

I really wonder if anyone at the FCC has thought this through, or are even capable of doing this?

Le plus ca change!