Comcast Lobbyist Hints Firm May Resurrect Data Caps

David Cohen
(Image: corporate.comcast.com)

When we last left Comcast's superstar lobbyist David Cohen, he was defending the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger to during a rubber stamp FCC public hearing. While Washington may offer low-hanging fruit, Comcast's front man knows Wall Street can occasionally offer stronger resistance to his smoothly presented advocacy. That assertion suggests Mr. Cohen may have to speak some truth, although only to big-time financial specialists and certainly not to the average cable rate payer.

According to a blog post in siliconvalley.com, Cohen spoke to an assortment of money men and women earlier this week at a New York business event. What he did not mention to the people's representatives he more candidly noted to the assembled, well-connected group. During his remarks, Cohen predicted that it would only take five years for Comcast to reinstate data usage caps on their millions of accounts.

As siliconvalley.com's personal technology writer Troy Wolverton observed, Comcast is a wolf among lambs in the world of data caps. Some years ago, Comcast instituted data caps on its customers and insisted everyone was treated equally. Well, that wasn't quite the case, and Comcast had to remove its data usage choke points. Currently, Mr. Cohen and Comcast would have the gullible believe their corporate intent is to "improve service," "foster innovation," and presumably any other shallow, palatable buzzword suitable for a 15-second sound bite. It's far more likely that data caps will be spun as another way decreased, more expensive service equals progress.