With net neutrality discussions now underway in Brussels, Orange, Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom fear potentially restrictive rules, reports Les Echos.
Talks started in late March, with proposals due to be agreed by May and then voted upon by the end of…
With net neutrality discussions now underway in Brussels, Orange, Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom fear potentially restrictive rules, reports Les Echos.
Talks started in late March, with proposals due to be agreed by May and then voted upon by the end of the summer. The European Council favours an open internet, albeit with preferential treatment for specialised services. The European Parliament, for its part, is calling for an FCC-style prohibition of a two-speed internet.
Pierre Louette, Deputy CEO at Orange highlighted concerns around the viability of e-health and connected automotive services, telling Les Echos: “If you have continuous images, if IPTV works, it’s because that traffic has been prioritised. In the future, it will be necessary to do the same with health services”.
“You cannot ask us not to manage our networks,” he continued, “Net neutrality is not net passivity. An operator operates the networks, networks operate through routers, and a router prioritises traffic”.
The proposal on which the European Parliament is working aims to set out an authorised list of specialised services, something Louette describes to Les Echos as “an error” that will stifle innovation.
Speaking at the Mobile World Congress, Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Hottges said: “We are in favour of net neutrality, but need different quality categories for new services such as the internet of things”.
A spokesperson for Vodafone referred to Make the Net Work, a lobbying group founded in 2014 comprising leading European telcos including Vodafone. Among that group’s three main tenets is the commitment to maintain an open internet and treat “providers of similar content and services in a non-discriminatory manner”; and to provide “a range of services at different levels of quality and price” to enable “advanced services” as well as “affordable internet services for consumers to help eliminate the digital divide”.
Also in need of resolution ahead of the upcoming telecom reform package is a decision on roaming charges. MEPs want to scrap all roaming charges, while the member states prefer a less radical approach in which consumers would be eligible for limited free-call credit, beyond which they would pay reduced roaming charges.
