One of the thorniest issues that the newly installed leadership of the Federal Communications Commission is dealing with is net neutrality. In the long run, it’s likely that the trickiest part of the overall topic will be the application of the concept to the wireless world.

The net neutrality debate deals with the level to which a carrier should be allowed to control the delivery of lawful content on its network. The telecommunication world is wrestling with the balance between a content providers’ right to unfettered access to its potential audience and carriers’ right – and, indeed, responsibility -- to manage the network in a responsible and efficient manner.

That basic issue will be more contentious in the wireless realm. The world of smartphones and other mobile devices is evolving at a lightening pace. Business and consumers' great interest in toting around small computers on the network – devices capable of an expanding array of complex processes – began with the introduction of Apple’s iPhone and has accelerated ever since. The devices have a voracious hunger for data, and much of it must be delivered with exacting precision.

Simultaneously, wireless and cellular networks remain bandwidth-constrained, and will be for the foreseeable future. The advent of 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) and WiMax will add bandwidth, of course, but won’t pull wireless capacities to the level of wired. Thus, the fight over how the airways are controlled will be more pointed.

“The contention issue is much more significant in the wireless world,” said Jeffrey A. Eisenach, Ph.D., the chairman of Empiris, a firm that provides consultancy services in a number of areas, including regulatory proceedings.

Network operators squeeze every ounce of value out of a network. They do such things as shape traffic to ensure that e-mail packets are sent in ways that don’t disrupt voice or video calls. Doing this requires technology that peers deeply into the packets. The same tools, however, can be used for less altruistic purposes, such as giving priority to one application over another. The basic question is where the line is between legitimate and anti-competitive uses of the technology.

The FCC Starts the Process

On Oct. 22, the FCC said it will issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on net neutrality. The commission said it is seeking input on ways to manage Internet openness under six principles. While the NPRM will extend to all platforms, it singles out wireless for special mention. In the press release, the commission says that it recognizes that delivery platforms differ in significant ways. The commission says, therefore, that:

…the Notice seeks comment on how, in what time frames or phases, and to what extent the principles should apply to non-wireline forms of broadband Internet access, including mobile wireless.

It is a very interesting sentence. The commission tacitly acknowledges that what is possible on a certain platforms may be impossible or unnecessary on another. It also says that the goals of net neutrality may be accomplished differently on different platforms. And, as if to remove any doubt, it expressly notes that mobile and wireless are venues in which all of these variables are in play.

“The issue is to what extent you carve out wireless and suggest that it be treated differently,” Eisenach said.

Thus, the primary tasks for policy-makers will be to determine the nature of mobile networks and to figure out what is technically possible and desirable in this environment. From there, the task will be to decide what is politically feasible. That, of course, may be the most complex question of all.

It won’t happen quickly, however.

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