IN THIS ISSUE Net Neutrality, "Paid Prioritization," and "Network Management" – Part II FCC proposes new rules intended to protect wireless customers from "bill shock" FCC Announces Developer Application Programming Interface (API) for Data Access ETI at glance About ETI Practice Areas Experts Work Product Contact ETI @econtech.com Download ETI Reports View Live Video of ETI Testimony Views and News Archive Subscribe Please send me ETI Views and News Subscribe here. October 2010 In this edition of Views and News, ETI continues its analysis of Network Neutrality with a discussion on "Network Management." We also examine the FCC's new proposed rules on Wireless "Bill Shock" and the new FCC Developer API for data access. Read on below, or navigate over to econtech.com where you can read online, or download a printer-friendly version. Net Neutrality, "Paid Prioritization," and "Network Management" – Part II Last month we began a two-part discussion focusing upon some of the most contentious issues in the "Net Neutrality" debate – the right of Internet access providers to charge customers for prioritizing certain traffic, and the providers' right to implement so-called "network management" measures whose effect would be to limit or prevent altogether certain uses of their Internet access services. These issues are certainly not unrelated; indeed, effective network management makes "paid prioritization" possible. Moreover, to the extent that any "network management" tactics are targeted to specific content or applications, they have the potential to competitively disadvantage non-affiliated (downstream) application and content providers and in so doing restrict competition for these services. For example, among the claims advanced in opposition to Comcast's use of "deep packet inspection" as a device for detecting its customers' use of "peer-to-peer" video file sharing was the suggestion that by frustrating its Internet customers' ability to download movies and other video content from peer-to-peer networks, Comcast was benefitting its own cable TV and other fee-for-content video offerings. In this article, we explore these and other arguments on both sides of the "network management" debate... Continue reading at econtech.com FCC proposes new rules intended to protect wireless customers from "bill shock" Earlier this month, the FCC proposed a set of new rules (at CG Docket No. 10-207) "that would require mobile service providers to provide usage alerts and information that will assist consumers in avoiding unexpected charges on their bills." Responding to various horror stories about consumers who ran up charges of as much as $35,000 for roaming, texting, or web surfing, the Commission now proposes to require that wireless carriers provide customers with notifications that they are about to exhaust their monthly usage allowance, and that they also make available easy-to-use tools to enable customers to view and manage their usage, so that the consumer can be informed, before any additional charges are incurred, that further use of the service during that billing cycle will engender such added fees. The Commission noted the opposition of wireless carriers to such requirements based upon the carriers' contention that "the [wireless] marketplace is competitive, creating incentives for providers to make available consumer information and usage tools without regulatory mandates" but nevertheless concluded that "mobile service providers are not providing consumers with complete information concerning the tools available to manage their usage and control their costs" and that "[t]o the extent that providers offer methods to monitor and cap usage to avoid bill shock, consumers are often unaware of these tools." While the FCC's initiative is certainly to be applauded and may well help some consumers avoid receiving wireless bills of biblical proportions, for others the FCC's proposal may be more like those health warnings on packages of cigarettes that are largely ignored by hard-core smokers. The real source of the bill shock problem is the enormous market power held by the two largest wireless carriers – AT&T and Verizon – that collectively control some 61.2% of the US wireless market... Continue reading at econtech.com FCC Announces Developer Application Programming Interface (API) for Data Access On September 7, the FCC launched a new website: http://reboot.fcc.gov/developer. The website promises "Data Transparency" and states that "[t]he FCC actively promotes the innovative application of agency data in the public and private sectors. FCC.gov/Developer connects citizen developers with the tools they need to unlock government data." We couldn't be more excited about the prospect of easy access to useful FCC data. But while the FCC data interface seems like a positive step in this direction, its ultimate success in achieving the stated goal will require that the Commission continue to include additional data sets in the repository, and more importantly that it renew its commitment to data collection... Continue reading at econtech.com About ETI.  Founded in 1972, Economics and Technology, Inc. is a leading research and consulting firm specializing in telecommunications regulation and policy, litigation support, taxation, service procurement, and negotiation.  ETI serves a wide range of telecom industry stakeholders in the US and abroad, including telecommunications carriers, attorneys and their clients, consumer advocates, state and local governments, regulatory agencies, and large corporate, institutional and government purchasers of telecom services. Economics and Technology, Inc. | One Washington Mall | 15th Floor | Boston | MA | 02108