Skype’s iPhone application last week started the debate on wireless net neutrality.
Consumer rights organization The Free Press has asked the Federal Communications Commission to apply its 2005 Internet Policy Statement—otherwise known as the FCC’s principles of net neutrality—to wireless Internet services, as well as more-traditional wireline broadband services. The reason? Mobile operators’ seeming unwillingness to open their data networks to services like Skype which would compete with their existing voice offerings.
In Europe, special interest group Voice on the Net (VON) Europe asked European policymakers to adopt laws that ensure consumer can access internet calling services on any public network, according to Reuters. The group, whose members include Skype, Google, Intel and Microsoft, are arguing that carriers who block VoIP applications are restricting consumer choice.