1/25-2/7 FCC Meetings on Potential Use of Network Slicing to Bypass Net Neutrality Rules

These meetings were covered by Communications Daily and Broadband Breakfast.

Across several meetings held with Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and other FCC staff between January 25 and February 7, Wireless Future Project warned that mobile carriers are seeking a wholesale exemption for specialized services they provide as a “slice” of their mobile network, echoing the Title II reply comments OTI filed on January 17.

While innovative enterprise services should be encouraged (e.g., factory automation, precision agriculture), if the application, content or service could function over the open internet, a “slicing” exception would open the floodgates to paid prioritization and undermine the overall goals of network neutrality. It could also degrade the performance of the regular internet unless explicit protections are put in place, as California and the European Union have done.