The (In)essentiality of Monopoly Power in Network Neutrality Violations

Unpublished Working Paper

02/2008 : Matthias Bärwolff

Publikationstyp: Artikel
Publikationssprache: Englisch
Kategorie(n): Verschiedenes


Kurzzusammenfassung

It has recently been proposed that competition in the provision of internet access does not obtain the normative goals of network neutrality proponents. Even under competition internet access providers will still have substantial incentives to discriminate against independent providers' content and applications. We argue that this argument effectively conforms to basic insights from models of monopolistic competition and, in itself, holds little of the policy relevance alleged by network neutrality advocates. Without empirical validation the conclusions of such an argument - an urgent call for material network neutrality regulation - is unjustified.