'Father of the Internet' lambastes 'childish' carriers

Stephen Withers
Monday, 28 July 2008 13:32

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

"In places where there is strong regulatory control, it seems to be working," he said.

You need to keep in mind that Cerf is a vice president at Google (a strong proponent of network neutrality), but there's no reason to assume that his opinions are not genuinely held.

We can't help feeling Cerf could just as easily be talking about Telstra as the US carriers that were the subject of his onslaught.

Currently an argument is raging between incumbent dominant carrier Telstra and other smaller players, with regulator the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission sandwiched in between. Telstra, a front-runner to build a national broadband FTTH network, is pressing to have the market dregulated so it is not forced to sell competitors bandwidth at regulated wholesale prices.

The video of the interview is available here.