Conference Agenda

Net neutrality regulations require Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to treat all internet traffic equally. The regulations have been gradually adopted across multiple countries with an intention of promoting an open and competitive internet ecosystem. However, they have also faced criticism for imposing unintended burdens on network operators, impairing network management capabilities, and discouraging investment and technological innovation. This highlights a potential policy trade-off.

This study examines the effects of net neutrality regulation on consumer outcomes, internet innovation and the performance of mobile network operators. We construct a cross-country panel covering net neutrality regulations and a range of consumer- and operator-level outcomes, The analysis combines two-way fixed-effects models with preliminary instrumental-variable and event-study approaches designed to address confounding, staggered policy adoption and potential endogeneity. The results provide no consistent evidence that net neutrality regulation has improved consumer welfare, as measured by mobile network quality, mobile data prices or indicators of internet content diversity. By contrast, two-way fixed-effects estimates suggest that net neutrality regulation is associated with 10% to 35% lower mobile operator revenues and about 10 percentage point lower profit margins, consistent with the hypothesis that such rules restrict monetisation strategies and bargaining power. These findings are model dependent, and preliminary instrumental-variable and event-study estimates do not yield uniformly consistent results, pending further examination. The evidence for direct effects on investment is also inconclusive, although lower operator revenues could mediate a reduction in investment of approximately 3–10%. Nevertheless, the analysis suggests that the role of net neutrality could be reassessed in light of changes in the internet ecosystem, the growing importance of content delivery networks, cloud providers and large platforms, and the increasing relevance of differentiated network performance in 5G and AI-enabled services

We interpret these results in the context of the modern internet ecosystem, where ISPs no longer possess significant market power, unlike in earlier periods characterized by a more fragmented content and application provider (CAP) landscape. Today, large traffic generators (LTGs) in most markets wield sufficient market power to deter practices harmful to typical user experiences, while competitive ISP markets and expanding consumer options prevent ISPs from adopting strategies that undermine an open internet. Simultaneously, the adverse effects on mobile network operators' financial performance may arise from curtailed monetization opportunities, such as fast lanes or zero-rating plans. Notably, the relevance of net neutrality regulations is waning, as user experiences are increasingly shaped by voluntary agreements between ISPs and CAPs for content delivery network (CDN) co-location, which operate outside neutrality frameworks.

These findings hold significant relevance for current communications policy debates, including those in the U.S. regarding federal and state-level rules, as well as the EU's Digital Markets Act and Digital Networks Act. They underscore the need for an evidence-based reassessment to determine whether net neutrality regulations are fulfilling their intended objectives or if those goals could be achieved through alternative, less rigid policy instruments.