Regulation Impacts Telecom Industry

If you were to walk down the street and ask about how government regulation effected business, most likely you would get responses that had to do with consumer banking. Recently however, there has been quite an uproar about the concept of net neutrality and if there is in fact a place for government in the internet. In a recent article published in the Wall Street Journal, they highlight what could prove to be a dramatic new development in the fight for regulation of the world wide web.

According to the article, all 95 candidates that said they support the idea that the government should be allowed to have a role in monitoring internet traffic, lost in the midterm elections. Stepping back for a second, if the legislation were to have passed and you were using too much of a provider's bandwidth, you would be charged extra. Some companies have already begin to cap data to prevent overloading their network. This is not only a concern for traditional cable providers, but also the wireless segment. There is a reason after all that AT&T has not allowed for the use of Facetime on the new iPhone 4, despite the device being capable of doing so on other carriers abroad.

This not only has business implications but also effects consumers directly. The general public has made it clear that we do not want regulators touching the internet, or our service providers being able to set limits on us. We pay for unlimited bandwidth, who are they to limit what is rightfully ours as long as we are downloading in a legally manor? Why shouldn't we be able to Facetime anywhere considering the amount of money we not only pay for the device but also the hefty monthly fee for "unlimited" data. Furthermore, AT&T is now charging extra if you want to tether your iPhone to a laptop. All of these questions and concerns expressed by consumers have one very clear message: keep government out! This message was expressed as a country last week and it is very interesting to see how even the political shift in this nation can be felt within the telecom industry.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704353504575596562893007720.html?KEYWORDS=net+neutrality