A 'Third Way' on Network Neutrality

Abstract

ITIF President Rob Atkinson and University of Colorado Professor of Law and Telecommunications Phil Weiser argue that the current state of the network neutrality debate denies the reasonable concerns articulated by each side and obscures the contours of a sensible solution. They outline those concerns, as well as the claims made by both sides that they believe are not factually correct or economically supportable. They then propose a three-part, "third-way" solution that allows incumbent broadband providers to offer managed broadband services, provided that they also offer a basic and growing open, non-discriminatory "best-efforts" Internet pipe to broadband consumers.