Martin Cave & Ingo Vogelsang, March 20, 2016
Net neutrality has been an issue that has preoccupied consumers, firms and regulators over the past decade. It concerns the financial and qualitative terms on which unaffiliated content and application providers (“CAPs”) may have their content delivered by the local access provider or Internet Service Providers (“ISPs”). The paper discusses the terms of this debate in the European Union and the United States. Broadly, the same view is taken in each jurisdiction of anticompetitive conduct by ISPs, such as discriminatory blocking of rival content, but the question whether ISPs should be entitled to make differential charges to CAPs for different tiers of delivery services, though nominally resolved in each jurisdiction, remains in dispute. The basic economics underlying this conflict are exposed, and intermediate solutions are examined.
Featured News
EU Moves to Rein in National Interference in Corporate Mergers
Mar 18, 2026 by
CPI
Germany Targets Fuel Price Spikes With New Daily Cap on Increases
Mar 17, 2026 by
CPI
Visa and Mastercard Win Right to Appeal UK Ruling on Interchange Fees
Mar 17, 2026 by
CPI
Spain’s Antitrust and Energy Watchdog to Release Blackout Report Without Blame
Mar 17, 2026 by
CPI
White House, GOP Again Trying to Enact Federal Preemption of State AI Laws
Mar 17, 2026 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – Behavioral Economics
Feb 22, 2026 by
CPI
Behavioral Antitrust in 2026
Feb 22, 2026 by
Maurice Stucke
Behavioral Economics in Competition Policy: Going Beyond Inertia and Framing Effects
Feb 22, 2026 by
Annemieke Tuinstra & Richard May
Agreeing to Disagree in Antitrust
Feb 22, 2026 by
Jorge Padilla
Recognizing What’s Around the Corner: Merger Control, Capabilities, and the New Nature of Potential Competition
Feb 22, 2026 by
Magdalena Kuyterink & David J. Teece