Hahn, Litan and Singer Review Wu's "Wireless Net Neutrality"

May 3, 2007

Network neutrality issues have been vigorously debated worldwide over the past few years. One major aim of network neutrality proponents is to prevent high-speed Internet service providers from charging content providers for priority delivery. Recently, proponents have turned their attention to the regulation of wireless networks, such as those for cellular phones, which provide increasing numbers of consumers access to Internet services. Some application providers have relied on a recent academic paper by Columbia Law Professor Tim Wu to support greater regulation of wireless operators.

In a new paper, Drs. Robert W. Hahn (AEI-Brookings Joint Center), Robert E. Litan (AEI-Brookings Joint Center) and Hal J. Singer (Criterion Economics) provide a framework for determining whether certain kinds of regulations should be imposed on the owners of wireless networks. They also consider the benefits and costs of specific proposals for the regulation of these networks. Their principal conclusion is that the costs of most of these proposals are likely to exceed the benefits.

To read their paper click here.