Culture Minister Vaizey Shuns Net Neutrality

Culture Minister Ed Vaizey has said that Internet service providers should be allowed to prioritise traffic from certain content providers, bringing an end to the principle of net neutrality.

In a speech at the Financial Times’ World Telecoms Conference, Vaizey suggested that ISPs could charge heavy bandwidth users such as Google and Skype for “fast lane” access. This, he said, would bring in additional revenue streams for ISPs and help pay for the expansion of online services.

“We have got to continue to encourage the market to innovate and experiment with different business models and ways of providing consumers with what they want,” said Vaizey (left). “This could include the evolution of a two-sided market where consumers and content providers could choose to pay for differing levels of quality of service.”

According to Vaizey, this kind of “light regulation” is “good for business, good for the economy, and good for people”. As Andrew Bud, chairman of mobile billing company mBlox, pointed out at a Westminster eForum last year, the unlimited amounts of data used by VoIP and peer-to-peer applications can lead to an increase in data volumes which far exceeds the revenue used to build networks.

Unprecedented control for ISPs

However, the suggested scheme would give ISPs an unprecedented amount of control over the accessibility of information and services on the web. Vaizey said that it would rely on ISPs being open and transparent about the service they offer, giving consumers clear information about the extent of their traffic management and the impact on service quality.

The proposals have already been met with fierce criticism from certain members of the industry.

“Removing net neutrality is likely to reduce innovation and reduce people’s ability to exercise their freedom of speech,” said Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group. “ORG will campaign against any market abuse, if companies like BT, Sky and Virgin restrict customers’ Internet access for market advantage.”

Erik Huggers, director of future media and technology at the BBC, also warned against breaking net neutrality in a submission to Ofcom last month.

“The founding principle of the Internet is that everyone – from individuals to global companies – has equal access,” said Huggers. “Since the beginning, the Internet has been ‘neutral’, and everyone has been treated the same. But the emergence of fast and slow lanes allows broadband providers to effectively pick and choose what you see first and fastest.”

Despite the opposition, however, both Ofcom and the European Commission have been making moves in this direction for some time. Both have questioned the need for net neutrality regulations in a highly competitive market, and a consultation is currently being carried out on the issue.

Meanwhile, the net neutrality debate has been heating up in the United States. The US regulator, the FCC, has had to deal with complaints that Internet service providers are not fairly treating the companies that use their data pipes.