Comcast CEO Brian Roberts Looking to Swallow Time Warner Cable and Mobile Carriers

Brian Roberts thinks net neutrality is "old fashioned" 1930s style regulation and is not useful

Comcast isn’t satisfied with its bid for Time Warner Cable, which is being reviewed by the FCC; it wasn’t to get a slice of the mobile pie.

On a conference call, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts hinted that the company is likely to compete with Sprint, AT&T and Verizon with a new mobile carrier. Roberts, according to Yahoo, said he is “assessing the possibilities” of channeling the company’s 8.3 million hotspots into a mobile virtual network operating platform. Roberts seemed a bit coy when, after implying this was possible, snapped the subject shut with, “it’s not (the time) to chew open what Comcast’s Wi-Fi plans are.”

Comcast has already undertaken the proposal to acquire Time Warner and become a cable behemoth at a time when most cable companies are struggling. The FCC is stepping up its investigations into the issue, and approval may be possible, but is not likely to be a no brainer.

The debate over Net Neutrality bill is being hashed out in Congress, with Senators Brian Schatz and Al Franken in favor of ensuring a free and open internet through government oversight. While Comcast’s boss says he agrees with the principles of net neturality (although Netflix did accuse the company of interfering with service to clients unless they paid for a premium version), Roberts doesn’t think government regulation, similar to utilities, is the way to ensure protection. He told CBS, “Our past comments on the unnecessary risks of associating 1930s style regulations to something as dynamic as the internet remain the same.”