[andrewescott]

  startups would struggle to compete against those who were
  able to afford paying for a fast lane--or an exclusive
  fast lane. Even the slightest discrimination or paid
  prioritization significantly affects startups, as 
  microseconds matter with both webpage-loading and 
  real-time content.

This suggests that startups struggle to compete against those who are able to pay to use CDNs to improve their webpage-loading times. However, this is clearly not the case, and undermines the argument.

If a "fast lane" cost as much as using a CDN, then presumably most startups wouldn't have a problem with it.