Net neutrality rules, Canada strengthens them

Canada is taking a much stronger stand against data cap exemptions than the United States.

In the US, the Federal Communications Commission's new Republican leadership signaled that it won't enforce net neutrality rules against zero-rating, the practice of favoring certain Internet content by exempting it from customers' data caps. The FCC made that clear when it rescinded a determination that AT&T and Verizon Wireless violated net neutrality rules by letting their own video services stream without counting against customers' data caps while charging other video providers for the same data cap exemptions.

Canada is also taking a case-by-case approach to zero-rating instead of banning it outright. But yesterday, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) ordered changes to one carrier's zero-rating program and announced that it will enforce stricter guidelines for determining whether zero-rating programs are discriminatory.

ero-rating "generally gives an unfair advantage or disadvantage to certain content providers and consumers," CRTC said in an announcement. The group said that it is "strengthen[ing] its commitment to net neutrality." The commission also published detailed guidelines and its decision against Videotron, a telecom whose "Unlimited Music" program exempts certain online music providers from data caps of subscribers with certain mobile data plans.

Zero-rating music or video not allowed

The new policy "supports the freedom of consumers and citizens to access the online content of their choice without being unduly influenced by the marketing strategies and pricing decisions of ISPs with respect to the transmission of specific content," the CRTC said. "It also supports the ability of all content providers to innovate and encourages ISPs to compete and innovate based on the capabilities of their networks, as well as to offer a range of speed- and volume-based data packages to provide better choices to Canadian consumers."

The CRTC says that zero-rating should be open to all types of online services. Thus, zero-rating programs that exempt a broad category of content—such as video—would likely violate the CRTC policy even if the programs are open to all video providers and even if the video providers don't have to pay the ISP.

Canada's stance against zero-rating (which Canada also refers to as "differential pricing practices") appears to be even more strict than the FCC's was under former Chairman Tom Wheeler. Wheeler, a Democrat, determined that paid data cap exemptions as implemented by AT&T and Verizon were discriminatory. But he gave the green light to T-Mobile's zero-rating programs that exempted a wide range of video and music services from data caps without requiring payment.