MMTC To FCC: Save Our Quality of Service

Says minority businesses need ability to pay for better broadband service

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/29/2010 10:07:38 AM

The Minority Media & Telecom Council says minority businesses need to be able to pay for faster and more reliable broadband service.

MMTC has written the FCC on behalf of 13 minority business and professional groups asking the commissioners not to disallow companies from paying for "quality of service" upgrades that insure performance of services like VoIP and video conferencing over the Internet.

According to copies of their ex parte filings with the FCC, net neutrality fan Free Press has met with FCC Chief of Staff Ed Lazarus and Commissioner Michael Copps to push the commission to include a prohibition on so-called paid prioritization.

Free Press defines it as when third party content owners "can pay an ISP to "cut to the front of the line" at congested nodes," but also when an ISP favors its own content, which it calls "vertical prioritization."

In response, MMTC argues that it is instead a voluntary, private agreement that allows minority businesses to compete with companies like Amazon, MSN, Google and Yahoo who can afford to invest in virtual private networks that can guarantee customers faster and more reliable access to content and apps by bypassing the Internet backbone.

"By preventing these voluntary agreements," says MMTC, "the Commission would effectively insulate established Internet-based companies from competition and allow for the proliferation of two Internets - one that well-funded, incumbent companies can use, and another for all other businesses."

The FCC currently has an open rulemaking on expanding and codifying its Internet openness principles. Free Press would like to see a ban on paid priority in the mix, while MMTC says that would be "a serious mistake and represent a significant step backwards.

Groups signing on to the letter include the National Association of Black County Officials, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, and the National Conference of Black Mayors and others who are already on the record as having concerns about the FCC's plans to codify network neutrality rules.