Bosses fret over threats to Internet free trade

Business leaders pushing for frictionless free trade have something new to worry about: the potential break-up of the Internet, which today forms the backbone of the global economy. The issue was a hot topic at the just concluded World Economic Forum 2015 in Davos, and the forum sought to provide a platform for debate over ways to maintain an open, cross-border Web in the face of pressures for national regulation.

"Is fragmentation happening? Quite frankly, there is a temptation," said Vittorio Colao, chief executive of mobile telecoms group Vodafone, who pointed to different regulatory regimes as an impediment to network traffic.