T-Mobile US this week ramped up its challenger strategy by allowing customers to watch mobile video without using up their data allowance, a move that could put it at odds with net neutrality supporters.
Called Binge On, it provides access to 24 streaming services at launch, including Netflix, HBO, Hulu – and even AT&T’s DirecTV and Verizon’s Go90 – among others, at no extra cost. T-Mobile also doubled the data allowance on its Simple Choice tariffs at all price points, and cut the price of buying additional data.
"With Binge On, no one pays – not the customers, not the video streaming services – and everyone wins," said T-Mobile US chief executive John Legere, in a statement on Tuesday.
"Only T-Mobile would find a way for customers to watch unlimited HBO, Hulu, Netflix, Sling TV and more…without eating into their LTE data," he said.
With Binge On, T-Mobile is not discriminati ng against certain types of traffic, nor is it levying a fee on over-the-top (OTT) service providers to prioritise the traffic they generate.
However, by not charging users to access certain services – a practice known as ‘zero-rating’ – T-Mobile could be seen to be undermining the principles of net neutrality by encouraging its customers to favour some OTT providers over others.
Zero-rating is a particularly big issue in India, where Facebook’s Internet.org was on the receiving end of a backlash on grounds that it violated net neutrality by zero-rating access to certain Websites. Fierce criticism also forced Bharti Airtel to abandon its policy of zero-rating VoIP services like Skype.
"Turning the mobile Internet into a carrier-controlled walled garden is ultimately a bad idea for consumers, for all online services (even those included in T-Mobile’s zero-rating today), and for the wireless industry as a whole," said John Bergmayer, senior staff attorney at consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge.
He suggested that T-Mobile could let customers choose which services to zero-rate, or allow customers to freely stream lower-quality video regardless of its source.
"In the name of competing with AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint, T-Mobile should not not take steps that could have such troubling competitive implications," Bergmayer said.
"We’re not here to play favourites," insisted Legere, in a blog post.
"Binge On is open to any legit streaming service (with lawful content) out there – at absolutely no cost to them. They just need to contact us and work with us on the technical requirements, optimisation for mobile viewing and confirm we can consistently identify their incoming music or video streams," he explained, adding that T-Mobile does not prioritise certain types of traffic.
