Groups call for net neutrality rules in AT&T merger

Supporters of a net neutrality law, led by the It’s Our Net coalition, have asked the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to prohibit AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp. from discriminating against some Internet traffic in exchange for the agency’s blessing on the two telecommunication giants’ proposed merger.

Earlier this month, AT&T said it would agree to several conditions, including locking rates on some high-speed lines and abiding by an FCC policy statement on net neutrality, for 30 months in exchange for regulatory approval of its acquisition of BellSouth.

But representatives of the It’s Our Net Coalition, consumer advocacy groups Public Knowledge, Media Access Project and others said Tuesday the FCC policy statement isn’t strong enough to protect Internet users from the large broadband carrier if it decided to block or slow Internet content created by its competitors.

The group, in a request filed Tuesday, called on the FCC to prohibit the merged company from discriminating in the “carriage and treatment of Internet traffic based on the source, destination or ownership of such traffic,” repeating the language of a proposal in the U.S. Senate earlier this year. Financial support for It’s Our Net comes from Internet companies and net neutrality supporters including Amazon.com Inc., Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc.

Four net neutrality policy goals advanced by the FCC in August 2005 — saying consumers are entitled to access the legal Internet content of their choice and to run Internet applications of their choice — won’t guarantee that Internet users are protected against the largest U.S. telecom carrier playing favorites with some Internet content, representatives of the groups said at a press conference.

Rick Whitt, president of NetsEdge Consulting LLC and co-author of the It’s Our Net FCC filing, pointed to past statements by AT&T and BellSouth executives saying they want to charge some Web sites more money for preferential speeds to their customers. “AT&T now has the obvious ability and stated intention to discriminate against Web companies,” he said.

AT&T, in a statement, said the It’s Our Net proposal “smacks of public relations-driven opportunism as opposed to a thoughtful approach to policymaking.” It is “not appropriate or justified” to apply the conditions to one company based on a merger application, Jim Cicconi, AT&T’s senior executive vice president for external and legislative affairs, said in the statement.

“The proper place to be debating the pros and cons of net neutrality is in the U.S. Congress or in an industry-wide proceeding at the FCC,” Cicconi added in the statement. “Perhaps the efforts of the It’s Our Net Coalition will be better served by encouraging all infrastructure providers to accept the same FCC net neutrality principles that AT&T has already agreed to voluntarily.”

But the new AT&T, with the old SBC Communications Inc. swallowing up both the old AT&T and now BellSouth, will have huge power in a broadband market where nearly all U.S. residents have two choices or fewer for providers, said Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge. True competition in broadband is years away, she said.

“We would like any conditions to stay in perpetuity, until it’s demonstrated that there’s increased competition in the broadband services market, and we don’t see that happening for a very, very long time,” she said.