Ice cream illustrates why you don’t need to fear zero rating

"On a recent panel, AEI’s Roslyn Layton and Stanford University Law School’s Barbara van Schewickdebated the impact of zero rating on competition among application and content providers. The debate was noteworthy for more than just the icy weather conditions that necessitated panelists unable to present in person to video stream themselves in.

Layton argued that zero rating allows competing providers to differentiate their offerings from established providers. In this way, new entrants can attract users in a crowded marketplace where existing providers have already cultivated application-usage habits and preferences. Layton cited strong advocacy for zero rating by small ISP entrants as evidence that it facilitates, more than harms, competitive entry. Van Schewick countered that all Internet users should be able to access the content of the “whole Internet” on identical terms. Established providers (notably ISPs) could use zero rating to make it more expensive for consumers to access nonproprietary content or new content where its providers could not pay to subsidize users’ transport costs."