SAN JOSE--Network neutrality issues can be easily handled with the existing commercial agreements framework, Qwest Communications CEO Richard Notebaert told the VON conference today.

While earning applause for a promise not to block any Internet access, Notebaert made it clear in his keynote speech that Qwest opposes government intervention in the process and believes that commercial customers have the right to pay for differentiated access to their customers, whether for content distribution or e-commerce.

"The argument goes that it is unfair for content providers to pay for the delivery of content when the customer is already paying for that--except they're not," he said.

If any content provider wants to subsidize the cost of higher speed access for their customers, they should be allowed to do that, Notebaert said, just as today some companies offer free delivery of packages in the weeks before Christmas, in order to attract consumers to their Web sites.

"We have always sold better SLAs for those who want to purchase them," he added.

Asked to guarantee that Qwest would not allow best-effort service to degrade, as it provides differentiated services to paying customers, Notebaert became a bit emotional.

"We've been doing this since the '70s on the PSTN," he said, forcefully. "We've been installing VPNs, SLAs and special agreements. During all that time, did you feel at times you couldn't get dialtone or complete a call--and I'm not talking about during storms like Katrina. Special service was something we did, and we will continue to do it."

In response to another query, Notebaert said he wasn't too concerned that AT&T and Verizon will offer each other special deals as "super peers," given their market power.

"We are a revenue stream to them, and they are great customers of ours, I hope we are great customers of theirs," he said. "It's possible if I buy 10,000 DS-3s, I'll get a better price than if I buy one DS-3--there will always be volume discounts. But the SLAs, the quality, should be just as good."

Qwest has had customers asking to buy differentiated services, although Notebaert said he would not identify them because of non-disclosure agreements. At the same time, he admitted, the company is promoting the availability of the service.

The Qwest CEO spent the first part of his talk essentially delivering a commercial for Qwest wholesale services and encouraging voice-over-IP providers to explore his company's service offerings.