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 The issue is at the heart of a debate over whether the FCC should
undo exemptions applied to mobile carriers as it rewrites Internet
traffic regulations, after an appeals court rejected its 2010 rules
in January.
Consumer advocates and wireless industry experts discussed the
question of parity between wireless and wireline networks at one of
several roundtables called by Wheeler to get "from heat to light" on
so-called net neutrality rules.
Public interest groups and web companies, including Google Inc and
Facebook Inc, say the FCC should impose similar antidiscrimination
rules for wireless companies and wireline ISPs.
Under earlier rules, all ISPs were banned from blocking users'
access to websites, but wireless providers were only banned from
blocking applications that competed with their own voice or video
calling services. Wireline ISPs could not block or "unreasonably
discriminate" against any applications.
Christopher Guttman-McCabe, vice president for regulatory affairs at
wireless association CTIA, stressed that wireless networks differed
by being shared and more dynamic than wireline ones. He said "a
radical change" to mobile net neutrality rules to create parity
threatened the wireless networks with poorer consumer experiences
and less investment in innovation.
"Chris, I can't accept your 'hell will freeze over' analogy," said
Wheeler, who ran the CTIA from 1992 to 2004 before becoming a
venture capitalist.
Wheeler urged the panel to instead focus on what "reasonable network
management" should mean, citing a recent comment by Verizon
Communications Inc CEO Lowell McAdam as showing the largest wireless
carrier was already committed to abiding by net neutrality parity.
Verizon's vice president for federal regulatory affairs, David
Young, said Verizon had no problem delivering the open Internet
connections that its customers expect.
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"To the extent that the FCC moves forward with reasonable rules that
recognize the differences between wireline and wireless, we're
likely to be able to satisfy them with the way that we provide our
services," he said.
Wireless and consumer interest representatives agreed that mobile
networks technologically differed from wired networks, but disagreed
on the extent to which wireless ISPs should be restricted in
"reasonable network management."
"We appreciate that there are operational challenges, I just don't
think that's a carte blanche for carriers" to hurt consumers, said
Delara Derakhshani of the Consumers Union.
U.S. consumers, particularly minorities, increasingly rely on mobile
phones for Internet access, prompting Wheeler to underscore in a
recent speech that the agency has "specifically recognized that
there have been significant changes in the mobile marketplace since
2010."
It is unclear to what extent Wheeler is prepared to regulate
wireless net neutrality.
"Although I continue to keep an open mind, I must say that I have
concerns about a lower, a possible lower standard for mobile
services," FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Alina Selyukh; Editing by Ken Wills)
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