Research Highlights
AN ALTERNATIVE TO NETWORK NEUTRALITY
The network neutrality principle bars Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from offering premium services to customers willing to pay higher fees. While potential network neutrality legislation is still being hotly debated around the world, researchers at the Advanced Digital Sciences Center (ADSC) have found a less intrusive and more effective alternative: the introduction of a Public Option ISP.
Because the Internet offers only a single class of “best-effort” service, it has been a real challenge to enable seamless end-to-end communications and guarantee quality of service for applications like real-time immersive telepresence. While ISPs could introduce premium services to help solve this problem, the fear is that non-premium users would suffer as a result; hence the push for network neutrality legislation. ADSC’s new approach introduces a Public Option ISP. Whether run by the government or a private organization, the Public Option ISP implements a network-neutral policy that does not prioritize or discriminate against particular types of traffic. Other ISPs can provide premium services if desired. The resulting system provides higheroverall utility (a measure of whether users get the network throughput they need) for users than could be obtained by legislating network neutrality.
In detailed modeling, analysis, and experiments to show the impact of ISP strategies on user utility, the Public Option alternative outshone network neutrality regulation, for both monopolistic and oligopolistic ISP markets. In monopolistic markets, a profit-seeking ISP’s selfish non-neutral prioritization hurts user utility. Network neutrality regulation can restrict the ISP’s practices and raise utility. However, the addition of a Public Option ISP incentivizes the other ISP to introduce paid prioritizations that benefit users; otherwise, users will switch to the Public Option for its better single-class service. The non-neutral ISP’s strategy will be aligned with user utility, leading to higher overall utility than obtainable under network neutrality regulation. In oligopolistic markets, market forces naturally influence ISPs’ non-neutral strategies to be aligned with user utility. In this case, a net-neutral Public Option can help avoid mistakes or accidental “collusion” among the existing ISPs. For instance, inefficient operations of the existing ISPs might cause very high market prices for premium services. If users defect en masse to the Public Option, the ISPs will be motivated to fix their pricing regimes and/or service offerings. In contrast, net neutrality regulations would force all ISPs to operate in a neutral but inefficient manner, substantially reducing user utility.
The Public Option approach can reshape the Internet landscape, creating more competitive and efficient ISP markets and supporting diversity in the industry. Its new economic incentives will enable new business models for ISPs to provide novel services and higher user utility. Through competition, more innovative applications can emerge and be supported by the future Internet. Most importantly, the Public Option ISP will always act as a safety net for users through its own network-neutral policy.