Mouthpieces for the wireless industry would have you believe that the FCC’s pending net neutrality rules — which would reclassify both terrestrial and wireless broadband as a utility — will cripple investment and plunge us into an era where we carry around mammoth brick cellphones like Zack Morris. So why is Sprint telling everyone a completely different story?

In an interview with Reuters, Sprint’s Chief Technology Officer acknowledges that the neutrality issue has become “highly charged, highly politicized,” but says the company took a big-picture look at neutrality and broadband reclassification and determined that “it works in the interest of our customers, our consumers and the industry.”

As for anti-neutrality arguments put forth by companies like Verizon and AT&T, who predict declines in investment, Bye said Sprint found their claims “less than compelling.”

“Our competitors are going to continue to invest so they are representing a situation that won’t play out,” Bye told Reuters, pointing to the fact that Verizon and AT&T spent a combined $28.6 billion to acquire wireless spectrum via the FCC auction.

“The notion that some of our competitors are suggesting that they will stop investing if Title II is brought into effect… That’s something we’ve refused,” added Bye.

In this risible video from wireless trade group CTIA, a shaggy shill uses an obviously faked man-on-the-street interview to make the claim that net neutrality rules will stop wireless companies from investing the same billions they spent between 2010 and 2014. What it doesn’t explain is that those were the same years during which similar neutrality rules were already in place. So by the industry’s own reasoning, neutrality regulations must have caused huge capital investments?

Regardless, the clip is worth a laugh:

[via DSLreports.com]

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