Deutsche Telekom und Net Neutrality
Here’s an interesting post from the NY Times “Bits” blog about net neutrality. Apparently, the future is now. The text of the entry (its not very long), is pasted below.
October 25, 2007, 12:41 am Deutsche Telekom Prepares for Two-Tier Internet
By Saul HansellTags: Deutsche Telecom, net neutrality
In the discussion about net neutrality, the phone and cable companies in the United States never said they would charge some companies more money for better access to their networks. They just said they don’t want rules to prevent them from doing so.
Dave Burstein, the editor of DSL Prime, a telecom newsletter, just came back from Europe where he found that Deutsche Telekom is preparing to charge a fee to companies that want to deliver video to its Internet service customers. In a speech at the Broadband World Forum Europe, Wolfgang Schmitz, a senior executive vice president of Deutsche Telecom, said the phone company’s DSL network, which is rated for speeds much faster than most networks in the United States, can’t handle the demands of Internet video. Mr. Burstein wrote of Mr. Schmitz:
He wants the Bertelsmanns, Burdas and Googles of the world to pay Deutsche Telekom to deliver voice and video to German customers. DT doesn’t have cable competition and the regulator may let them get away with it.
Mr. Burstein has long argued that phone companies can, and should, charge far less than they do for far faster broadband service. He argues that Deutsche Telekom is using a much too complex network architecture and that other more simple approaches will be able to do more for less.
Regardless of that, if Deutsche Telekom does indeed start charging providers of video on its network, it will be an important fact as regulators in the United States look at net neutrality policy.
The rather technical article from DSL Prime is here. You have to scroll down through several other articles to get to it.
In the comments section below the entry, one of the commentors says that Google should respond by blocking all access to its sites and services through the DT network, implying that Google’s content monopoly will force the DT’s monoply to concede. I’m not sure which way I fall on the issue, but it will be interesting to see who backs down, and what precedent this sets for service in the US.