Verizon Open to Fifth FCC Internet Principle

But the company recognizes the political reality of a president who remains committed to pursuing net neutrality, Tauke said. Last week, in a speech on cybersecurity, the president reiterated his support for ensuring network nondiscrimination (CD June 1 p1). The president won the election, and his administration has made clear where it stands, Tauke said. But Verizon plans to take a pragmatic approach, and it believes it can work with the new FCC “to get to the right conclusion,” he said. What works is allowing the commission, the FTC and the Justice Department to correct any identified misbehavior, he said: Beyond that, Verizon still thinks new rules are unnecessary.

“I'm not saying we are inviting a fifth principle, but I wouldn’t want to say we couldn’t find a way to live with a fifth principle,” Tauke said. Some forms of net neutrality policy would be damaging, he said. “We need to avoid doing something which freezes in place the current world and instead we need to ensure there is innovation within the network.” Some net neutrality supporters think “a bit is a bit is a bit, and you have to treat every bit equally,” he said. “That essentially prohibits you from managing the networks effectively in a way that provides a decent service for consumers.” Companies need to manage networks for safety, to protect consumers from spam or cyberattacks, Tauke said.

Tauke said he doesn’t expect an activist telecom agenda in this Congress, but it may be early to judge because of the attention to energy and health care legislation. He hopes Congress will tackle a universal-service overhaul, essential because consumers will soon find a 12 percent surcharge on their phone bills, “the highest in history,” Tauke said. “This really is unsustainable,” he said, saying the program isn’t focused on the needs of the future. He thinks Congress needs to act on USF and give the FCC a deadline for dealing with intercarrier compensation.

Verizon supports legislation being discussed in Congress for a national framework on wireless regulation, but it’s unclear whether the effort will go anywhere, said Senior Vice President Peter Davidson. “I believe that is the right model.” Companies don’t want to deal with 50 sets of state rules.

The special access market needs no tweaking, and the FCC will realize that after it collects more information, Tauke said. The special market has seen “an explosion of new players,” with competition expanding to new geographic areas and prices are coming down, he said. “If the facts are on the table … the FCC will make a good decision.” The problem has been competitors’ refusing to submit information on their facilities, he said.

Tauke blamed government for the delay in building an interoperable public-safety network. “It really is a failure … of government policymakers that this problem still exists,” he said. “There are a whole host of reasons for it. But at some point somebody has to step up to the plate and solve the problem.”

Verizon believes that the “most reasonable way” to solve the problem is to give the spectrum to public safety by region and let the recipients “put out for bid whatever they want to do,” Tauke said. “If they want to build some kind of network, they could put out an RFP and try to get that network built.” To implement Verizon'’s plan, Congress would have to act, he said. “Right now under the law, you'd have to auction the spectrum. They've tried that. It hasn’t worked.”