AT&T: Google-Verizon internet plan 'reasonable'

AT&T Inc.'s wireless chief said he largely supports a proposal from Google Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. for regulation of the Internet that would exclude mobile Web services from most oversight.

The proposal is a "reasonable framework" for the industry and demonstrates that carriers and Internet companies can reach agreements on Web policies, Ralph de la Vega said today at the Oppenheimer & Co. Technology, Media & Telecommunications Conference in Boston.

Verizon and Google this week announced a proposal for so- called net-neutrality rules that would restrict Internet-service providers from selectively slowing content that travels over their wires. The proposal, described in blog posts and a conference call with Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt and Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg, wouldn't apply to those limits to Web use on mobile devices.

Google and Verizon said the mobile-Internet market is different from the wireline market because it's more competitive and changing rapidly. Some groups, such as the Washington-based non-profit Free Press, said the approach would let Verizon and other carriers discriminate against certain traffic, possibly favoring their own services.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission met last week with Dallas-based AT&T, Verizon, Google, Skype Technologies SA and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association in an effort to reach a framework for Internet regulation.

An agreement from the FCC on net neutrality "is unlikely this year and is less likely to occur at all following the Verizon-Google proposal," said Credit Suisse analyst Spencer Wang in a research note today. He said a legislative solution is the most likely outcome.

De la Vega declined to say how he thought the FCC would ultimately rule on Web regulation.