'open internet' rules criticised “开放互联网”规则遭批评

Mobile providers have said that US proposals to ensure all traffic on the internet is treated equally should not be applied to wireless traffic.

移动电话厂商称美国确保互联网上的全部流量都被公平对待的提议应该被应用于无线网络。

Studies show 60% of users are interested in mobile internet access

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) wants rules to prevent providers blocking or slowing down bandwidth-heavy usage such as streaming video.

Providers claim a two-tiered system is essential for the future vitality（活力，生命力） of the net.

Mobile operators said any regulation would damage innovation.

FCC chairman Julius Genachowski said doing nothing was not an option.

In his first major speech since his appointment earlier in the summer, he told an audience in Washington that the rules were "not about government regulation of the internet".

"History's lesson is clear. Ensuring a robust（强壮的，强健的） and open internet is the best thing we can do to promote investment and innovation," he told the audience at Washington think tank the Brookings Institution.

"And while there are some who see every policy decision as either pro-business or pro-consumer, I reject that approach; it's not the right way to see technology's role in America."

The FCC's proposals are meant to ensure that internet service providers cannot block or slow down traffic, such as bandwidth-hogging video downloads. Operators must also be transparent about network management, it said.

But providers have argued that a two-tiered internet is essential to effectively manage their networks.

'Phenomenal success'

Almost as soon as Mr Genachowski stepped off the podium（矮墙）, industry critics condemned the inclusion of wireless traffic in the new policy proposals.

"We are concerned the FCC appears ready to extend the entire array of net neutrality（网络中立） requirements to what is perhaps the most competitive consumer market in America - wireless services," said AT&T's Jim Cicconi.

"The internet in America has been a phenomenal success that has spawned technological and business innovation unmatched anywhere else in the world," said David Cohen, executive vice-president at Comcast.

"So it's still fair to ask whether increased regulation of the internet is a solution in search of a problem."

Verizon, the nation's biggest cellphone operator, said it believed the FCC had no reason to impose "a new set of regulations that will limit customer choices and affect content providers, application developers, device manufacturers and network builders".

Politicians also weighed in on the proposals.

Six Republican senators introduced a measure that would cut the FCC's funding to "develop and implement（工具，器械） new regulatory mandates".

Meanwhile, the two Republicans on the FCC's board said they were not convinced that there were widespread problems of internet providers blocking or slowing traffic that needed to be addressed with new rules.