Verizon Lacks Paid Prioritization Plans, Derides Prioritization as a 'Phantasm'

Verizon dismissed fears of paid prioritization as “demagoguery,” responding to a letter from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. Last week, Leahy requested pledges against paid prioritization from Verizon as well as AT&T, Charter Communications, Comcast and Time Warner Cable (see 1410230041). “Unfortunately, the fever pitch over ‘paid prioritization’ and ‘fast lanes’ among advocates of greater Internet regulation is just demagoguery since no major ISP has expressed an interest in offering ‘paid prioritization’ and all agree that the FCC has a valid legal path to prohibit it,” Verizon General Counsel Randal Milch told Leahy in a letter Wednesday. “Verizon has no plans to engage in paid prioritization of Internet traffic.” He emphasized that paid prioritization is “theoretical” and a “phantasm,” without any history of an ISP even laying out the business case for crafting such deals. Milch bashed Title II reclassification and emphasized the FCC’s path to target paid prioritization deals under Communications Act Section 706. Verizon railed against Title II and restrictive regulation generally. “For example, some net neutrality advocates have attacked new business models, such as sponsored data or ‘zero-rating,’ that would save money for consumers,” Milch said. “Under these nascent arrangements, content providers could voluntarily agree to pick up the tab for usage-charges when consumers go to their sites. Or in other instances, such as T-Mobile’s Music Freedom plans, in order to differentiate its service a broadband provider could decide not to charge usage for certain types of traffic.” It would be “regressive” to ban potential “pro-consumer practices,” he said.