{"id":115567,"date":"2014-12-27T21:00:56","date_gmt":"2014-12-27T19:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=115567"},"modified":"2014-12-26T22:35:18","modified_gmt":"2014-12-26T20:35:18","slug":"net-neutrality-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/internet\/115567-net-neutrality-debate.html","title":{"rendered":"Net Neutrality debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are many factors that have enabled the successful scaling of the Internet into a global phenomenon: a\u00a0consensus-based, voluntary approach to standards<\/a>;\u00a0 decentralised design; and a\u00a0vast body of openly-licensed software. \u00a0But the element I want to talk about here is the layer-independent design of the Internet.<\/p>\n

Internet infrastructure\u00a0is based on something called the OSI 7 layer model<\/a>,\u00a0which breaks down communication into layers that describe everything from the wires or radios that carry signals all the way up to the application that you see in your browser or on your phone.<\/p>\n

For the purpose of describing the Internet, we can simplify the OSI model to four layers, with Access at the bottom, TCP and IP in the middle, and Applications at the top. \u00a0 TCP and IP are the Transport Control Protocol and the Internet Protocol respectively, often referred together as TCP\/IP. \u00a0Together TCP and IP make up the digital superhighway that carries data around the world in understandable and manageable ways.<\/p>\n

What makes these layers of communication so remarkable is that they are wholly independent of each other. \u00a0TCP\/IP doesn\u2019t care what technology enables the Access layer below it. \u00a0If you change your access technology from copper to fibre to wireless, that change is completely transparent to the TCP\/IP layer of the Internet. \u00a0Similarly, TCP\/IP doesn\u2019t care what is above it, whether html or mobile apps or streaming video, the TCP\/IP layer\u00a0is\u00a0indifferent to what developed above it at the Application layer.<\/p>\n

This means that new technologies can be introduced above and below the TCP\/IP layer without\u00a0affecting it. The enabling power of network layer independence cannot be overstated.<\/p>\n

It is not surprising then that any attempt to monkey with this structure should meet with heated debate, as\u00a0Net Neutrality is about the very heart of the Internet and how it works. \u00a0At its core, the\u00a0debate is about whether\u00a0all\u00a0TCP\/IP\u00a0traffic should be treated equally or whether Internet\u00a0service providers should be allowed to prioritise traffic from specific content providers.<\/p>\n

In the United States there has been surprisingly little discussion\u00a0about the Access layer of the Internet in Net Neutrality debates. \u00a0Reading between the lines, it is\u00a0implied that a combination of the cost of network roll-out and the power of network effects preclude new competition arising at the\u00a0Access layer.<\/p>\n

You also get the impression that it is assumed that a) everyone has access to the Internet; and, b) they can afford it. \u00a0\u00a0These might be reasonable broad generalisations\u00a0for the US market, and perhaps the industrialised world in general, but it breaks down in a region like sub-Saharan Africa.<\/p>\n

In sub-Saharan Africa, for millions of\u00a0people, the Access layer of the Internet is\u00a0simply absent. There is no infrastructure. Or, where there is infrastructure, access is comparatively expensive.<\/p>\n

If you are part of the roughly 50% of the world\u2019s population that doesn\u2019t have access to the Internet, then the debate about prioritisation of Internet traffic might appear a little hypothetical to you.<\/p>\n

Yet, as the Net Neutrality debate expands to the rest of the world through initiatives such as\u00a0ThisIsNetNeutrality<\/a>, a global Net Neutrality coalition, it has stubbornly remained at the\u00a0TCP\/IP and Application layers of the Internet.<\/p>\n

Emerging market countries have responded to the issue of Net Neutrality, and earlier this year the South African regulator made noises<\/a> about having a consultation on the introduction of Net Neutrality principles.<\/p>\n

This provoked a reaction from the Internet Service Provider (ISP) community<\/a>\u00a0who argued that Net Neutrality did not reflect the infrastructure or market in South Africa, where managed bandwidth with throttling and caps was\u00a0fairly familiar. \u00a0I have argued along similar lines<\/a> that Net Neutrality requires a different approach\u00a0in regions where access is either scarce or unaffordable. In contrast to this, the Brazilian government\u00a0has taken a strong stand<\/a>\u00a0in favour of Net Neutrality.<\/p>\n

My insight from discussions over the last few weeks has been that it is possible to have a meaningful debate about Net Neutrality in poor countries, but that we need to shift the debate to focus more on\u00a0the Access layer. \u00a0If we can achieve neutrality at the access layer, then neutrality at the TCP\/IP layer and above will become more meaningful. Net Neutrality is a full stack problem.<\/p>\n

What does this mean in practice? \u00a0It means that we need to create the same democratic principles around neutrality of access to infrastructure that inform the net neutrality debate at the TCP\/IP layer\u00a0and above. In May of this year, 50 prominent venture capitalists wrote an open letter to the US regulator<\/a>\u00a0in support of Net Neutrality. Their concern was that without equal access on the Internet to a global market, small startups would not have the\u00a0opportunity to experiment, adapt, and grow.<\/p>\n

But what about neutrality at the Access layer? What opportunities are there for small access startups to experiment, adapt, and grow? Very few. With the recent spectrum auction in the US topping out at over 40 billion dollars<\/a>, the opportunities for access startups seems virtually non-existent. This needs to change.<\/p>\n

In order to create neutrality at the Access layer of the Internet we need policies that enable access on a non-discriminatory basis to: \u00a0fibre optic cables; radio spectrum; and access infrastructure in general. If we achieve neutrality at the access layer, this would also reduce the chance of neutrality violations at the TCP\/IP and higher layers because plurality of access would reduce the likelihood of non-neutral services succeeding.<\/p>\n

Strategies to enable this might\u00a0include the:<\/p>\n