Brian's Brain

Continuing my ongoing Network Neutrality coverage, last Thursday AT&T offered a number of additional concessions (PDF) in an ultimately successful attempt to break the FCC's Democrat (opposed)-vs-Republican (in favour) logjam over AT&T's proposed acquisition of BellSouth. Among them was a notable 'promise to observe network neutrality principles'....for two years. Presumably this'd provide sufficient time for the now-Democrat-controlled Congress to formally legislate Network Neutrality dictates. But, of course, nothing's guaranteed in government, particularly when a Republican president holds veto authority and with the conservative-dominated Judiciary branch overseeing the legality of House and Senate actions. And there's an interesting loophole in AT&T's neutrality promise:

This commitment also does not apply to AT&T/BellSouth's Internet Protocol television (IPTV) service.

Ahem. AT&T also promised to offer, for at least 30 months' duration (beginning 12 months or less after the merger finalization), $19.95/month 'bare DSL' service to customers, albeit only at 768 kbps peak download speeds. See the following chronologically links from Ars Technica, Digg, Om Malik and Slashdot for other perspectives:

• AT&T Knows When to Fold ‘em
• AT&T Offering Merger Concessions
• AT&T agrees to strong network neutrality provisions (and Digg commentary)
• FCC approves AT&T/BellSouth merger
• AT& T Completes BellSouth Takeover: FCC Approves $85 Billion Deal
• Net neutrality advocates cheer AT&T concessions

The devil's in the details, folks. And in case you thought network neutrality concerns were restricted to wired telecom services (Sling Media is catching similar heat from the cellular provider)....

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