CCIA Offers Comments In Brazil ANATEL Proceeding on Network Investment 

Washington – The Computer & Communications Industry Association provided input (translation here) in response to Brazil’s National Telecommunications Agency (ANATEL) consultation regarding the regulation of internet-enable content and Added Value Services (AVS). The consultation sought comment on, inter alia, whether specific obligations should be imposed on large users of telecommunications networks as a means to fund the build out and maintenance of the network, traditionally funded through end-user subscriptions.

In the comments, CCIA highlights how establishing a network remuneration model for telecommunications providers that was funded by AVS providers would raise a variety of concerns and would subsequently harm the internet ecosystem. CCIA has opposed this idea of mandatory payments from online services providers to internet service providers for traffic, sometimes referred to as “network usage fees”, in various markets, including the European Union and South Korea.

CCIA has advocated for tech trade issues and tech policy that advances innovation for over 50 years.

“The internet ecosystem relies on the well-functioning, symbiotic relationship between online services providers and internet service providers, both of whose interests are aligned in delivering cost-effective, quality services to end-users. Online service providers’ investments in the efficient delivery of traffic through construction and maintenance of submarine cables, caching and the use of content delivery networks, and tailoring services based on network capacity and device type are all critical pieces to the development of a healthy online landscape. As ANATEL surveys the digital marketplace along with other global regulators, policymakers should uphold the market-based system of negotiation and delivery that has resulted in the growth of the thriving global internet.”