FCC Is Still Concerned About AT&T And Verizon Zero-Rated Services

Zero-rated services are becoming increasingly popular among carriers and companies, giving customers a way to consume certain content without using up their high-speed data allotment. Such arrangements have raised concerns about net neutrality in the past, and while the FCC isn't necessarily against zero-rated offerings, it has expressed concerns with some of them. Verizon and AT&T are, once again, the focus of that concern.

Last month, the FCC sent both AT&T and Verizon letters expressing concern with their zero-rated services, namely Verizon's FreeBee Data 360 and AT&T's DirecTV Now streaming without it counting against one's monthly data. The commission has circled back around to these two companies in a new report posted on its website.

In it, we see the FCC detail multiple zero-rated services; most of them don't concern the commission, with the exception of AT&T's Sponsored Data program and Verizon's FreeBee Data 360.

Speaking about AT&T's offering specifically, the FCC says, "...we have serious concerns that AT&T Mobility's Sponsored Data program presents competitive problems and, to date, nothing in AT&T responses to the Bureau's requests for information has addressed our concerns." It goes on to cite similar concerns about Verizon's program.

The report specifies:

The limited information we have obtained to date, however, tends to support a conclusion opposite from AT&T's contentions – namely, that AT&T offers Sponsored Data to third party content providers at terms and conditions that are effectively less favorable than those it offers to its affiliate, DIRECTV. Such arrangements likely obstruct competition for video programming services delivered over mobile Internet platforms and harm consumers by inhibiting unaffiliated edge providers' ability to provide such service to AT&T's wireless subscribers.

And about Verizon specifically, the FCC says:

We are aware of no safeguards that would prevent Verizon from offering substantially more costly or restrictive terms to enable unaffiliated edge providers to offer services comparable to Verizon's go90 on a zero-rated basis. And we have no data to confirm Verizon's unsupported assertion, submitted as part of its response to our request for information, that the FreeBee Data 360 sponsored data program offers third parties prices and terms equivalent to the economic net cost by Verizon to zero-rate its affiliated go90 video service.

The FCC goes on to acknowledge that carriers are 'experimenting' with different programs like this, but says it is possible such arrangements could result in harm to both competition and consumers. It isn't clear what future plans or actions the FCC may have in regards to its concerns.

SOURCE: FCC