The View | Lack of net neutrality not good news for New Territories

While I have no idea what internet processing speeds are in Timbuktu, I happen to live on an outlying island in Hong Kong, so I can imagine.

Indeed, I recently dashed off an email to the relevant regulator, Ofca, asking why such a low level of service was allowed. Like probably a lot of angry complaint letters, mine made no sense. It’s not Ofca’s business if my internet service stinks. It is strictly between the customer and company.

I guess I sort of knew this, but just forgot. The internet is not a public utility, like electricity is, or telecommunications used to be in Hong Kong, before the sector was liberalised.

This means there is no universal service provision requirement for the internet. My little island could just as well have no internet service at all, instead of the snail-like 3 megabits per second we are offered by the sole broadband player.

Which in turn means one can’t call the regulator to demand better service. This is harder than you think. As a neighbour of mine put it: “It feels like a basic human right to be able to complain about the phone company!”

Finally, because the internet is not a public utility in Hong Kong, there is no “net neutrality” requirement.

This is pretty much how it works across the globe with internet regulation – except that a number of other countries have decided to commit to universal service provision, or are actively debating the idea. And elsewhere, net neutrality is a hot-button issue.

The relevant US regulator, the FCC, voted last month to maintain the internet’s public utility status after a political outcry. “Ending net neutrality would allow big companies to buy their way into the fast lane, leaving everyone else in the slow lane,” the political satirist John Oliver said in a programme on the subject that went viral.