internet lab | Podcast Season: 1 / Episode: 8 - 1-12-2022

1:1 with Milton Mueller
Georgia Tech

Episode Highlights

00:00 Intro

01:29 Q1 - How do you interpret the relationship between users accessing more content and services online and the impact this may have on telcos?

05:12 Q2 - What are the inherent dangers (if any) of Big Tech being requested to pay for the network of telcos?

10:31 Q3 - Do you think it is appropriate to compare the contribution of Big Tech and telcos in infrastructure, as suggested by some?

13:17 You have 1 minute to deliver a message to the powers that be in the EU on the 'fair contribution' discussion: make your case.

14:49 Outro

Key Quotes

"The content and services online increases the demand for the network component of the digital system. And in any normal industry, in a normal mentality, that would be a good thing, right?"

1 / 8

"Big and small tech, and every information service provider, is paying for the network. (...) Saying that Big Tech is not paying for the network, that's obviously not true."

2 / 8

"The amount of Internet access that people want, both on the supply and demand side of these information services, is increasing regularly."

3 / 8

"I just don’t know how you cannot make money when everybody in the country needs your connectivity to get access to these high value services [online]."

4 / 8

"You're saying that the telcos are monopoly gatekeepers who have a right to hold you up and charge some of the value of that service that you're getting (...) and not just the value of the connectivity that they're providing. (...) That’s very dangerous."

5 / 8

"[Telcos should] find new ways to add value that command higher prices, and not (...) tax or somehow appropriate value that other businesses are making."

6 / 8

"The fact that there's so much additional value built on the backs of [telcos] does not mean that they have a right to steal it, or appropriate or grab it, simply because (...) they want it."

7 / 8

"I don't see any basis for (...) changing the fundamental economic structure of the Internet, based on the fact that information service[s] (...) are creating more value than [telcos]."

8 / 8

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About Our Guest

Prof. Milton Mueller | Professor and Program Director in Cybersecurity Policy - Georgia Tech

Milton Mueller is Professor and Program Director in Cybersecurity Policy at Georgia Tech. More generally, he is an internationally prominent scholar specializing in the political economy of information and communication. He is the author of seven books and a multitude of journal articles, delving into public policy but also science and technology, law, economics, communications, and international studies.Milton is also the co-founder and director of the Internet Governance Project, a policy analysis center for global Internet governance. Milton notably participated in proceedings and policy development activities of ICANN, the International Telecommunications Union, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration as well as regulatory proceedings in the European Commission, China, Hong Kong and New Zealand.

Relevant Resources

Internet Governance Project

Milton Mueller (Georgia Tech)

1:1 with Milton MuellerGeorgia Tech