January 3, 2007
AT&T/BellSouth merger yields Net Neutrality win
On 29 December, the FCC approved the merger of AT&T and BellSouth, after AT&T submitted a revised set of conditions, including the following Net Neutrality pledge:
AT&T/BellSouth also commits that it will maintain a neutral network and neutral routing in its wireline broadband Internet access service. This commitment shall be satisfied by AT&T/BellSouth’s agreement not to provide or to sell to Internet content, application, or service providers, including those affiliated with AT&T/BellSouth, any service that privileges, degrades or prioritizes any packet transmitted over AT&T/BellSouth’s wireline broadband Internet access service based on its source, ownership or destination.
Now, this still permits Quality of Service based on traffic type, such as prioritizing streaming media, but such QOS measures would have to apply to everyone’s streaming media equally.
All in all, a big win!
Further coverage:
Tim Wu, Why AT&T’s Net Neutrality Concession is a Milestone in the History of the Internet
AT&T’s Final Merger Committments, FCC Filing




