Net neutrality review (2023)

The IET welcomes the opportunity to respond to Ofcom’s Net Neutrality Review Consultation. Our response specifically addresses Ofcom’s assessment of internet access on aeroplanes, trains, buses and coaches (Question 14).

The IET strongly supports a net neutrality that ensures the internet remains “open to all”. Ofcom highlights that consumers want to be able to access the internet wherever they go, including when ‘on the move’ on public transport.

In this sense, the IET is concerned about a widening digital divide outside of urban areas, and an impending market failure to provide fast 5G across 70% of the UK landmass. In other words, a large part of the UK does not receive any of the benefits of a high-capacity internet for users on the move.

The IET concludes that this is unlikely to change with current levels of investment. Therefore, Ofcom should be given the power to charge large content providers (CAPs) for the mobile network capacity they use. The funds raised by this charge would enable levelling up the UK’s mobile network infrastructure.

The overwhelming case for this policy is that other potential funding mechanisms - operators, the taxpayer, consumers - are exhausted, especially given the challenging economic circumstances.

The IET proposes that only large CAPs contribute financially, and does not seek to change the status quo for smaller enterprises and public sector broadcasters.

To summarise, the IET supports the net neutrality principle of an internal for-all, and wants Ofcom to give the UK a better wireless broadband future for everyone. This can be achieved by introducing a charging regime applied to large CAPs so that they proportionately pay their way for the wireless infrastructure capacity they are consuming.