The real cost of violating net neutrality in the Caribbean

OPINION- A recent move by two major Caribbean mobile providers to block access to Internet-based telephony services—including several popular Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications—has brought the issue of net neutrality to the attention of Caribbean mobile phone users.

The core principle of net neutrality is that Internet service providers should treat all data passing across their networks equally, not discriminating by user, generator, content, site, platform, application or equipment.

A joint statement from the T&T chapters of the Internet Society (ISOC-TT) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE-TT), along with the T&T Computer Society, described the move to block certain services as “a violation of the concept of network neutrality”.

“The action of these ISPs sets a dangerous precedent and could have a deleterious impact on efforts to leverage ICTs for both economic and social development across the region,” said Bevil Wooding, an Internet Strategist and Caribbean Outreach Manager at the research non-profit Packet Clearing House.

“Historically, ISPs have acted as gateways to the Internet and the many applications, services and content that live on the computer servers connected to it. But their role was never intended to be as gatekeepers, determining which data bits and Web services should load better or worse,” Wooding stated in a strongly worded piece on the subject. More