「ネット中立性」が目指す価値――電気通信事業法のフレームワークを踏まえた考察――

抄録

Net neutrality has been one of the most debated issues in the telecommunications policy arena since the 2000s. Japan is no exception, with the Japanese telecommunications authority working very hard to draft rules for net neutrality. In order to design optimal rules, we need to establish a clear and unambiguous definition of net neutrality in the Japanese context as well as policy measures to evaluate the optimality of the proposed policy package. To date, however, there is still no definition of net neutrality in the official document. There are only naïve applications of this concept that appear inconsistent with the articles of the Telecommunications Business Act of Japan, which aims to “ensure sound development of telecommunications and convenience for citizens and to promote the public welfare” (Article 1). In addition, because net neutrality rules have to provide solutions to the problems of the domestic market, there is no one-size-fits-all definition, i.e., the Japanese telecommunications authority must come up with its own unique version. In this article, the author proposes a definition of Japanese net neutrality. It discusses who should be responsible for securing net neutrality in the broadband market, how to measure the degree of neutrality, and how we should deal with the issue of fair pricing to help policymakers design an optimal policy package.