MetroPCS targeted as blocking open Internet access

A handful of open Internet access proponents sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski expressing concern over MetroPCS Communications Inc.’s (PCS) recent rate plan changes that they contend curtails access to the Internet from mobile devices and goes against the commission’s recently announced open Internet rules.
The letter, sent by the Counsel for Free Press and co-signed by the Center for Media Justice, Media Access Project, New America Foundation and Presente.org, claims that the carrier’s recent decision to cap access to data transmission from sites outside of those selected by MetroPCS is a form of blocking Internet content.
MetroPCS announced earlier this month that it was lowering the price of entry for its LTE service to $40 per month. That plan included unlimited nationwide talk, text, Web browsing using LTE or CDMA access and unlimited access to YouTube video downloads. For an additional $10 per month customers receive international and “premium” text messaging, turn-by-turn navigation through the carrier’s MetroNavigator service, mobile instant messaging, corporate e-mail and 1 gigabyte of additional data access. For a $20 premium on top of the base plan MetroPCS offers all of its services, plus unlimited data access and access to its MetroStudio content service.
“In its new scheme, MetroPCS is advertising unlimited talk, text, ‘Web browsing’ and YouTube at a base price of $40 per month, with additional features like mobile instant messaging or access to audio downloads available on higher tiers for another $10 or $20 per month,” the letter states. “Notable among these ‘additional features’ is the use of a category of Internet content, websites, applications, and services labeled by MetroPCS as ‘Data Access.’ Although this category is ambiguous, various news reports, documents, and statements provided by MetroPCS indicate that it includes popular Internet applications and services, including Skype and Netflix. Users of the base MetroPCS plan apparently will not have access to such Internet content, websites, applications, and services. Users of the intermediate plan will have their use of such services capped at 1 GB per month, even though these users can continue to use their mobile broadband plans for other content, applications and services (most notably, some forms of web browsing, along with YouTube video viewing). By selectively blocking or capping the use of some Internet content, websites, applications, and services, MetroPCS appears to be in violation of the Commission’s recently adopted open Internet rules.”
The letter references a portion of the FCC’s recent net neutrality ruling:
“A person engaged in the provision of mobile broadband Internet access service, insofar as such person is so engaged, shall not block consumers from accessing lawful websites, subject to reasonable network management; nor shall such person block applications that compete with the provider’s voice or video telephony services, subject to reasonable network management.”
The letter singles out the potential for MetroPCS to block access to voice over Internet protocol services that might compete with its own voice offering, while at the same time allowing unlimited access to data-intensive applications like YouTube.
Dow Jones Newswire reported that MetroPCS President and CEO Roger Linquist has stated that the complaints were “erroneous,” and that the carrier plans to file a response in the coming weeks.