PolicyBlog

Ivan Seidenberg had a wide ranging discussion on the Charlie Rose Show recently about Verizon, his vision for the company, and his views on everything from the role broadband and wireless networks play in societal change to policy issues like net neutrality.  I am biased I admit but I believe Ivan covers most of the major issues in our industry and provides a view of the future as he sees it for the communications industry. I am not surprised by the vision and understanding Ivan exhibits regarding the technologies, the markets and the issues.

The interview goes on for fifty minutes and I suspect many will find it difficult to find the time to view the entire segment. So, I thought over the next few weeks, I’d take out a few segments to analyze them a bit more.    You can see the interview here.

Let’s start out with an issue most know I deal with all of the time – Net Neutrality.  Ivan is asked directly about our views on the issue in this clip.   He says up front that we agree that the Internet should be open and consumers should be free to access the content of their choice.   He makes it clear that our disagreement is with the notion that we should not be able to offer enhanced services over our network.  Earlier in the interview, Ivan points to the power of advanced networks in places like Iran and  his comments reinforce the notion that we believe as a company in providing open access through high speed networks to the Internet.  We just don’t believe that in such an open and competitive market that our ability to offer differentiated services over our networks should be constrained by regulation or restrictive policies.

Ivan is asked in the context of this discussion about our relationship with some of the leaders pushing net neutrality regulation, specifically Google.   It is no secret that the company has been among those pushing for net neutrality rules or policies.  Ivan makes it clear we disagree with Google on this issue but at the same time he points out that in the technology and Internet space our two companies work in, companies can be and often are both competitors and partners.   He notes too that applications and services providers like Google that build consumer applications have both utilized the broadband networks we build but also promote use of broadband services.  He says that in the end “they’ve helped grow the pie a lot faster than anyone thought possible.”   So while we think they are wrong about net neutrality, they have been a positive force in helping grow broadband usage.