The Dreaded U-word: Unlimited

As you’re likely aware, a U.S. appeals court recently ruled that the FCC had overstepped its bounds when it ordered cable operator and broadband service provider, Comcast, to reverse its practice of limiting customer access to a filing sharing application, BitTorrent. I may be biased by the fact that communications service providers are also my customers, but I am also a big believer in the free market system. CSPs are not just Internet access providers, but also builders of global communications infrastructure, integrators of complex networking systems, and enablers of applications and services which impact everything from developing economies to personal lifestyles. If consumers believe that the business practices of their service providers treat them unfairly, they will go elsewhere; if the CSP loses enough profits, they will change their practices.

So why are there so many voices pushing for fair treatment of information bits themselves, ignoring the infrastructure that it takes to move them around?  Aside from business-elbowing of the over-the-top players, if I want the Sunday edition of my newspaper, with the magazine, travel and style sections, I pay much more for all that content than the daily paper. If I want to see a 3-D movie in the theaters, I expect to pay more (and not just for the stylish eyeglasses). If I don’t want to pay extra, I have to watch the movie in 2-D. Or I wait for the DVD rental for half the price.

Of course, consumers want access to be free. But maybe, just maybe, we’ve led them there with unlimited, all-you-can-eat access plans. We have helped to isolate the delivery mechanism from the content which consumers value. The content owners make their money off of advertising or some other business model that looks free or bundled. But service providers are taking the brunt of the Net-neutrality uproar, in part, because they may be afraid to ask consumers to pay for what they consume (that is to say, un-unlimited pricing). The print newspaper company doesn’t bill me a surcharge for the paper they use in the Sunday edition; the movie theater doesn’t charge me separately for the 3-D glasses. That leaves the CSP with only a few choices, including: (1) bundle somehow with the content providers; (2) keep unlimited pricing and jettison ultra-high-bandwidth users to other providers; (3) utilize a bandwidth management approach to offer differentiated plan tiers via customized policy; or (4) fight long protracted court cases for years to come against a well-funded Net neutrality movement. I know what my lawyer friends would say, but I just ate lunch, so I’ll skip option #4 for now.

Adan Pope is the chief strategy officer for Telcordia, a global leader in the development of fixed, mobile and broadband communications software and services. He also serves as CTO for their OSS and service delivery businesses.