Initial comments on open Internet debate due Oct. 12

The Federal Communications Commission set deadlines for comments and reply comments on its open Internet further notice of proposed rulemaking. Initial comments are due at the FCC Oct. 12, while reply comments are due Nov. 4.
The agency is seeking comments on how wireless providers should address transparency, devices and applications. “The NPRM seeks comment on ‘how, to what extent, and when’ openness principles should apply to mobile wireless platforms, with a particular emphasis on furthering innovation, private investment, competition and freedom of expression,” the agency said in its Sept. 1 press release on the NPRM. “Mobile broadband providers such as AT&T Mobility and Leap Wireless (Cricket) have recently introduced pricing plans that charge different prices based on the amount of data a customer uses. The emergence of these new business models may reduce mobile broadband providers’ incentives to employ more restrictive network management practices that could run afoul of open Internet principles. Additionally, Verizon and Google issued a proposal for open Internet legislation that would exclude wireless, except for proposed transparency requirements.”
By and large, wireless carriers and wireless industry trade association CTIA have maintained that wireless technology is different from wireline technology, and that operators need to be able to manage their networks for all of their subscribers. Further, there are technology issues in that a GSM-based device cannot run on a CDMA network.
The debate on open Internet principles has pitted some public-interest groups against companies like Google Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., which tried to come up with one set of guidelines designed for the open Internet and another set of principles for specialized services and wireless services.