Huawei Says Net Neutrality Is Preventing Development of Internet Services

Huawei says support for so-called ‘Net Neutrality’ regulations should be abandoned, arguing that such requirements are hindering the development of Internet services.

The issue of an open Internet is a contentious one. Carriers want to be able to charge content providers, such as Netflix, additional fees to ensure their customers continue to receive a good service, but opponents say this will create a two-tier system and conflict with the principles of an Open Internet.

“We believe the development of broadband needs a better industry environment,” Ryan Ding, Huawei president of products and services, told the Huawei Ultra Broadband Forum in London.

Huawei Net Neutrality

He accused European regulators of being stuck in a mind-set of 20 years ago and were intent on creating a very competitive environment rather than addressing customers who have different requirements.

Ding said postal services like Royal Mail were able to provide a ubiquitous service across an entire country, but logistics firms such as FedEx were also allowed to enter the market, providing an express one-day delivery service in major cities.

Broadband, he argued, was no different but people were unable to accept this and ISPs have been forced to offer the same speeds to everyone for the same services despite differing needs among different consumers and businesses.

Netflix in particular has been a vocal supporter of Net Neutrality as it is forced to pay additional fees to US cable providers, who are often the only major supplier in some cities, so viewers can receive a good level of service. It, along with a number of other content providers, recently held a ‘go slow’ protest to highlight the issue.

Huawei has spoken to both BT and TalkTalk about the issue of diversified services and already works with China Telecom. Ding said that 80 percent of connected Chinese households receive speeds of less than 4Mbps, which isn’t ideal for high quality video, but through a partnership with Chinese firm Xuneli, VIP users of the service are given 20Mbps speeds.

The Shenzhen-based firm has pledged to spend £2.46 billion in the research and development of fixed broadband technologies over the next three years to allow carriers and ISPs to cope with growing demand for cloud, 5G and M2M services, along with 4K video.

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