Slashdot Mirror
Kill Net Neutrality and You'll Kill Us, Say 800 US Startups (google.com)
A group of more than 800 startups has sent a letter to the FCC chairman Ajit Pai saying they are "deeply concerned" about his decision to kill net neutrality -- reversing the Title II classification of internet service providers. The group, which includes Y Combinator, Etsy, Foursquare, GitHub, Imgur, Nextdoor, and Warby Parker, added that the decision could end up shutting their businesses. They add, via an article on The Verge: "The success of America's startup ecosystem depends on more than improved broadband speeds. We also depend on an open Internet -- including enforceable net neutrality rules that ensure big cable companies can't discriminate against people like us. We're deeply concerned with your intention to undo the existing legal framework. Without net neutrality, the incumbents who provide access to the Internet would be able to pick winners or losers in the market. They could impede traffic from our services in order to favor their own services or established competitors. Or they could impose new tolls on us, inhibiting consumer choice. [...] Our companies should be able to compete with incumbents on the quality of our products and services, not our capacity to pay tolls to Internet access providers."
Speaking of third world countries: Here in Uganda, we have nationwide infrastructure sharing that includes towers, 2.4/5G meteo WIFI APs, metro fibre, and backhaul fibre. We have MVNOs, nearly ubiquitous mobile coverage, an extremely competitive market, a healthy interconnection ecosystem, and a growing amount of local traffic. We're in a race to the bottom for prices, and a race for the top in service quality. Glad I don't live in America.