[Chapter-delegates] ISP's and Google

[Joly MacFie]

Some thoughts..

It was just such a comment by then AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre that led to
the whole NN thing in the USA
http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2005/10/5498.ars

Google, with Vint Cerf as eloquent spokesperson, led the charge,
however more recently Google and Verizon have managed to find common
ground. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/posttech/2010/03/google_and_verizon_communicati.html

Ed Whitacre, in the meantime, has been shunted over to General Motors.

The FCC Comcast decision has thrust the topic back into the spotlight
and Susan Crawford, in a NY Times Op-Ed last week called for a
reversal of the 2005 FCC decision that reclassified the telcos to be,
like the cablecos, "information services" and thus free of common
carrier regulation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/opinion/11crawford.html

It was easier to open up the telcos to the cableco model than the
reverse. Yet, in the internet way of things, Google is just another
user, so the model fails.  The telcos want everyone to conveniently
forget that their network has long been given all kinds of rights of
way and cash breaks in return for their utility status.

Last years Arbor report revealed that, through peering, as it own
network grows, Google's cost of distributing YouTube video is
virtually negligible.
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/10/youtube-bandwidth/
http://asert.arbornetworks.com/2010/03/how-big-is-google/

This has led other ISPs to the understanding that only by owning
content can they be competitive, hence Comcast's bid for NBC etc

On the other hand there is, extremely limited but growing support,
given the lack of competition, for structural separation or at least
open access in the last mile. Europe is certainly ahead of the US on
this.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/opinion/21Benkler.html

Recent developments like Verizon's surprise announcement that it is
backpedaling on FIOS, and the FCC's National Broadband Plan, seem to
indicate the telcos have given up on wire completely - ceding it to
the cablecos - while going hell-for-leather for wireless where
enforced scarcity means there is still good money to be made in
billable events and metered access.


joly


On Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 1:42 PM, Christopher Wilkinson
<cw at christopherwilkinson.eu> wrote:
>
> European operators call on Google to share revenues
> Published: Monday 12 April 2010 | 09:17 AMCET, Telecompaper
>
>

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