With Net Neutrality Rules Repealed, AT&T Gets Ready For Paid Prioritization

With net neutrality protections officially on their way out in a matter of weeks, AT&T is already beginning to unveiling plans to reshape the internet with paid prioritization schemes. The telecom giant, however, argues it has no intention of creating “fast lanes and slow lanes.”

In a blog post published Tuesday, AT&T Senior Vice President Bob Quinn laid out the company’s concept for internet services that will charge an additional fee for improved services while maintaining a promise not to infringe upon the average consumer’s internet experience.

“Let me start by saying that the issue of paid prioritization has always been hazy and theoretical,” Quinn wrote. “The rhetoric of this debate has centered on the concept of prohibiting fast lanes and slow lanes on the internet. Let me clear about this—AT&T is not interested in creating fast lanes and slow lanes on anyone’s internet.”

Despite this promise, AT&T’s executive talked up the possibility of using paid prioritization—which would provide improved data transfer rates in exchange for an additional fee paid by the beneficiary of the service—in order to build the groundwork for future technologies.

Quinn said AT&T intends to enable “innovative new technologies like autonomous cars, remote surgery, enhanced first responder communications and virtual reality services” with its network, and suggested paid prioritization would be key in order to provide a service that would guarantee such services would never be hampered by network congestion or slow transfer rates.

“I think we can all agree that the packets directing autonomous cars, robotic surgeries or public safety communications must not drop. Ever,” Quinn wrote, noting that such services are necessary for public safety.

Quinn did not note in the blog post that the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality protections—passed in 2015 during the Barack Obama administration—allowed internet service providers to dedicate parts of its network to certain applications that require a dedicated and reliable network connection without violating the restrictions on paid prioritization.

Under the rules—which the FCC, led by Donald Trump appointee Ajit Pai, voted to repeal in December—telemedicine, automobile telematics, and school-related applications and content can be provided with isolated capacity. It simply prevented ISPs from offering the "functional equivalent" of broadband through paid prioritization schemes.

With those restrictions voted down and set to officially come off the books on April 23, AT&T will face no enforcement hurdles from the FCC when crafting its paid prioritization plans.

Thus far, the company seems to be indicating that it will not use the newfound freedom to charge edge providers like Netflix more to deliver their data-heavy services, but ISPs have hit companies with such fees in the past, prior to net neutrality protections—and those charges could be passed on to consumers.

In addition to banning paid prioritization, the net neutrality rules also prohibited internet service providers from blocking content and slowing or throttling connections.