The NCTA has called out the FCC's apparent affection for anything wireless, especially as it relates to net neutrality, in comments it has filed with the Commission. Summed up, the comments state that if the FCC feels an absolute need to expand net neutrality rules--and cable's national lobbying organization doesn't think it's necessary--it should include wireless providers as well.
In the comments which FierceCable obtained, the NCTA made it clear that net neutrality rules could have a negative impact on the growth of cable broadband, especially if they set restrictions on bandwidth use. "Operators are developing dynamic bandwidth response to transitory demand" and restrictions "would only interfere with these technological innovations," the comments said.
The comments also targeted arguments by the wireless industry for exclusion from any net neutrality regulations based on the need to manage spectrum. "The wireless industry's technology-based claims for special treatment hinge on the need to manage limited spectrum, but ... network congestion issues are not unique to spectrum based services. They may also occur in shared broadband networks like the one deployed by cable operators."
The FCC, the comments concluded, should not move forward with net neutrality but, if it feels it's absolutely necessary, its actions should be "guided by the underlying principal of regulatory parity in order to avoid conferring a regulatory advantage upon one type of broadband provider over another."
For more:
- full text of comments here
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