Business News Americas | January 24, 2011 | Patrick Nixon
Chilean telecoms regulator Subtel is likely to come under considerable pressure over the next few days to modify recently published regulations for an internet neutrality law, which have provoked the ire of internet consumer groups, Claudio Magliona, a lawyer with Garcia Magliona & Cia, told BNamericas.
Subtel announced last Thursday that regulations for the law, approved by Chile’s congress last July, had been completed and sent to the comptroller general for approval.
Regulations were designed to allow internet service providers (ISPs) to introduce tiered pricing and service speeds for internet access with the intention of moving the industry away from flat fee, “all you can eat” models, which allow a minority of heavy users, such as peer-to-peer sites, to create congestion and slow down the internet for others.
This rule would oblige ISPs to make it very clear to users what minimum speeds they would be guaranteed.
Secondly, the law was due to establish a clear list of activities that would be considered infringements on net neutrality, such as blocking or discriminating certain sites by sending them over slower connection speeds.
Regulation regarding the second of these two aspects falls short of what the law had promised, according to Magliona.
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