Net Neutrality Advocates Urge FCC to Tighten 5G Slicing Rules

“It’s wrong to try and regulate a nascent technology when we haven’t even really seen the application and how network slicing would be used yet,” said Jonathan Cannon, R Street Institute policy counsel-technology and innovation and former aide to FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington. Net neutrality advocates seem to see slicing as “a form of paid prioritization,” he said.

“The entire point of 5G networks is this ability to facilitate slicing,” Cannon said. Slicing has become more important because of the limited amount of licensed mid-band spectrum available to carriers and the growing demand for wireless traffic, he said. A case-by-case analysis is “probably a better outcome, but I’d happily see the rule going away completely,” he said.