Telecoms Want Their Traffic Prioritized In 'Two-Tier Internet'
Actually, BellSouth's CTO, William L. Smith, already created a storm of controversy a few weeks back by suggesting that they could create a multi-tier system by charging various prices for access to their infrastructure.
Now, Hiawatha Bray writes in The Boston Globe:
AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp. are lobbying Capitol Hill for the right to create a two-tiered Internet, where the telecom carriers' own Internet services would be transmitted faster and more efficiently than those of their competitors.
The proposal is certain to provoke a major fight with Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., Time Warner Inc., and Microsoft Corp., the powerful owners of popular Internet sites. The companies fear such a move would give telecommunications companies too much control over a fast-growing part of the Internet.
The battle is largely over video services. Several major telecom companies are working on ways to deliver broadcast-quality television over the Internet. Currently, online video can be slow to download and choppy to watch, even with higher-speed Internet services.
posted by Fergie @ 12/13/2005 10:59:00 AM
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