Commitment to ensure open and neutral internet principles applied in practice

The need to ensure that citizens and businesses are easily able to access an open and neutral internet has been underlined by the European Commission in a report just adopted.

The Commission said it will be vigilant that new EU telecoms rules on transparency, quality of service and the ability to switch operator, due to enter into force on May 25, are applied in a way that ensures that these open and neutral internet principles are respected in practice. For example, the Commission will pay close attention to the existence of generalised restrictions of lawful services and applications and to EU citizens’ and businesses’ broadband connections being as fast as indicated by internet service providers’ advertising.

The Commission has asked the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) to undertake a rigorous fact-finding exercise on issues crucial to ensuring an open and neutral internet, including barriers to changing operators, blocking or throttling internet traffic (e.g. voice over internet services), transparency and quality of service. The Commission will publish, by the end of the year, evidence from BEREC’s investigation, including any instances of blocking or throttling certain types of traffic. If BEREC’s findings and other feedback indicate outstanding problems, the Commission will assess the need for more stringent measures.

Neelie Kroes, vice-president of the European Commission for the Digital Agenda, said: “Over the next few months, in close cooperation with member states’ regulatory authorities, I will be closely monitoring respect for new EU rules to make sure that they ensure an open internet. At the end of 2011, I will publish the results, including any instances of blocking or throttling certain types of traffic.

“If I am not satisfied, I will not hesitate to come up with more stringent measures, which may take the form of guidance or even general legislative measures to achieve the competition and choice consumers deserve. If this proves to be insufficient, I am ready to prohibit the blocking of lawful services or applications.”

There is no set definition of ‘net neutrality’ but it will be a legal requirement under EU law as from May 25 2011 that member states’ telecoms regulatory authorities promote the ability of internet users “to access and distribute information or run applications and services of their choice”.

Other rules directly relevant to net neutrality that enter into force on May 25 as part of new EU telecoms rules include requirements concerning transparency (e.g. any restrictions limiting access to services or applications, connection speeds); quality of service (regulators can set minimum quality levels); and the ability to switch operator (within one working day).

Consumers are entitled to make informed choices about their internet provider on the basis of adequate information about possible restrictions on access to particular services, actual connection speeds and possible limits on internet speeds. BEREC has reported that the majority of member states’ national regulators received complaints about discrepancies between advertised and actual delivery speeds for an internet connection. Blocking can take the form of either making it difficult to access or restricting certain services or websites on the internet. For example, some mobile internet operators block voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services. Throttling, which is employed to manage internet traffic and minimise congestion, may be used to slow down certain types of traffic and so affect the quality of content, such as video streaming provided to consumers by a competitor.

The report shows that there have been some instances of unequal treatment of data by certain operators. Although in many cases these were solved voluntarily, often after intervention by member states’ national regulatory authorities (NRAs), more accurate information is needed to distinguish cases of contractual or “de facto” blocking from those subjecting access to certain services to additional payment, and on the extent (isolated or generalised) of the blocking practices detected.

The Commission’s report confirmed it was crucial to ensure that consumers can change operators easily. The new telecoms rules on number portability, which will require that consumers be able to change their operators and keep their numbers within one working day, should help in this regard.