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Trilogue Strikes Deal on Net Neutrality and Roaming
07.07.2015
On 30 June the EU Parliament, the Council and the Commission announced that they have finally reached a preliminary deal on new open internet and roaming rules following final trilogue meetings. The deal comes after two years of negotiations and heated debates. Under the new rules mobile roaming charges for making calls, sending texts and using the internet will be banned from June 2017. Moreover retail caps for mobile roaming charges will already be replaced by a maximum surcharge of € 0.05 per minute for calls, € 0.02 for SMS and € 0.05 per megabyte for data from 30 April 2016.
There will however be a fair use safeguard clause in order to prevent abuse. This clause that will be defined by the EU Commission and national telecoms regulators is intended to prevent so called “permanent roaming” by prohibiting subscribers from using roaming services for purposes other than periodic travel. Moreover the new rules will provide for a cost recovery exception allowing operators to impose minimal surcharges if they can prove that they cannot recover their costs. Such surcharges have to be authorized by the national regulator and can only apply if domestic prices are affected.
As regards net neutrality the new rules safeguard equal and non-discriminatory treatment of traffic. Accordingly ISPs may not block or throttle certain content for commercial reasons. Reasonable traffic management will however be allowed to deal with temporary or exceptional congestion, protect against cyber-attacks or in response to a court order or a legal obligation. Moreover ISPs will be able to enter into agreements ensuring a minimum quality for so called “specialized services” like IPTV, high-definition video conferencing or healthcare services, provided they do not impede internet access for other users.
The informal deal still needs to be formally approved by the full Parliament and the Council of Ministers before it will enter into force.
Further article: EU Institutions Struggling to Agree on a Common Position on Net Neutrality and Roaming
There will however be a fair use safeguard clause in order to prevent abuse. This clause that will be defined by the EU Commission and national telecoms regulators is intended to prevent so called “permanent roaming” by prohibiting subscribers from using roaming services for purposes other than periodic travel. Moreover the new rules will provide for a cost recovery exception allowing operators to impose minimal surcharges if they can prove that they cannot recover their costs. Such surcharges have to be authorized by the national regulator and can only apply if domestic prices are affected.
As regards net neutrality the new rules safeguard equal and non-discriminatory treatment of traffic. Accordingly ISPs may not block or throttle certain content for commercial reasons. Reasonable traffic management will however be allowed to deal with temporary or exceptional congestion, protect against cyber-attacks or in response to a court order or a legal obligation. Moreover ISPs will be able to enter into agreements ensuring a minimum quality for so called “specialized services” like IPTV, high-definition video conferencing or healthcare services, provided they do not impede internet access for other users.
The informal deal still needs to be formally approved by the full Parliament and the Council of Ministers before it will enter into force.
Further article: EU Institutions Struggling to Agree on a Common Position on Net Neutrality and Roaming
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