Net Neutrality Exceptions to Be Defined as 'Special Services' Including Autonomous Vehicles

Convergence Service 'Special Service' Regulation
Allows Exceptions to Net Neutrality Principle

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] The government has decided to apply an exception to the principle of net neutrality for cutting-edge convergence services such as autonomous vehicles. It plans to designate business areas with high traffic consumption in the form of convergence services as 'special services' and impose detailed conditions and obligations, thereby allowing exceptions to net neutrality only in this area.

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT on the 27th, it announced the results of the revision of the net neutrality guidelines that have been underway since June last year. The main point is to introduce the concept of 'special services' and specify the requirements for services that are exceptions to the principle of net neutrality.

'Net neutrality' is the principle that telecommunications companies must handle content without discrimination. It means that telecom companies should not arbitrarily increase or decrease the access speed of certain services based on the content of the content or whether additional payments have been made to the telecom company. Regardless of whether a user watches Netflix more, they should not be charged more in a 'metered' format or experience slower speeds; users should enjoy equal services by paying only a flat-rate fee.

However, with the implementation of autonomous driving and remote medical technologies in the 5G B2B sector, there have been demands to abandon 'net neutrality.' To build a network environment capable of autonomous vehicles or remote medical services, telecom companies need to charge enterprises a '5G express lane fee' and prioritize processing data quickly for business viability and network investment.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Science and ICT plans to designate convergence 5G services as special services and impose conditions to allow exceptions to the net neutrality principle.

Special services are defined as ① provided to specific users only, ② guaranteeing a certain quality level (such as latency and connectivity) for specific purposes, and ③ provided through a separate network physically or logically separated from internet access services. The provision requirements are defined as maintaining appropriate quality and network advancement, and telecom companies are allowed to disclose information about special services. A Ministry of Science and ICT official stated, "If the exception conditions for net neutrality are met and designated as special service providers, network slicing services will also be possible."

Meanwhile, the principle of net neutrality is a contentious issue between telecom operators and content platform companies.

Telecom operators criticize the net neutrality policy, which regards traffic as a 'public good.' Internet traffic is increasing, and the costs for line maintenance and quality improvement are rising, but existing telecom fees are insufficient to maintain smooth services. They argue that it is being used as a basis for 'free riding' by content giants like Netflix and YouTube. They believe that charging differentiated telecom fees according to the degree of traffic generation aligns with market economy principles and ultimately leads to improved telecom service quality.

On the other hand, content providers (CPs) view the abolition of net neutrality policies as ultimately leading to burdens on content developers and consumers, infringing on content creation and freedom of expression.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.