AT&T weighs higher fees for data hogs [Network World]
The head of AT&T's wireless division stated publicly yesterday that the company is working on plans to impose a surcharge on high-bandwidth users of its wireless network. AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega in remarks on AT&T's third quarter earnings conference call said that the company was assessing the impact of the FCC rule-making process with respect to network neutrality on AT&T's plans to charge high bandwidth users more than other users.
Without disclosing an exact percentage for the planned charges, de la Vega indicated that a small percentage of network users were consuming a majority of bandwidth, and the overage charge plan would be directed at curbing those "bandwidth hogs," as de la Vega referred to them. Earlier this year, de la Vega revealed that 3 percent of AT&T's wireless users consumed 40 percent of network capacity.
It remains to be seen whether the FCC will adopt Chairman Julius Genachowski's proposed network neutrality rules and whether new non-nondiscrimination rules will apply to wireless networks.
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