On December 21, 2010, the FCC adopted rules related to Net Neutrality following a long period of analysis, debate, high profile litigation and FCC actions. The overall goals of these rules are to preserve the Internet’s openness and broadband providers’ ability to manage and expand their networks. The FCC offers four core principles to these goals:

• Transparency.  Accurate disclosure of Performance, Commercial Terms and Network Management Practices sufficient for subscribers to make an informed choice regarding Internet Service.

• No blocking.  Access must be provided to all lawful content.  Severe deprioritization is considered to be equivalent to blocking.

• No unreasonable discrimination.  Traffic should be treated equally unless it benefits the subscriber or its discrimination is under subscriber control.

• Reasonable network management.  Ensuring network security and integrity, and reducing or mitigating the effects of congestion.

The ruling and guidence provided by the FCC offers a foundation of practises that Operator can use to Manage the Services, Subscriber and Network.  Operators are provided with the opportunity to manage their Service offerings and their network to ensure that customers enjoy a great experience while operators can ensure that the services that offer are competitive and profiltable.

Download our White Paper explaining the Implications of Net Neutrality to Broadband Providers.