Net neutrality and no roaming charges headed to Europe

Culminating a long, three-year process, European lawmakers engaged in a marathon negotiating session that wrapped up at 2 am last night in an effort to institute new rules regarding net neutrality and roaming fees for members of the European Union. The result of the negotiations is a set of “net neutrality” rules for the EU and a process to phase out roaming charges by June 2017.

In order to get rid of the roaming charges, lawmakers agreed to a phase out stage that will commence in 2016. During this time period, roaming fees will be capped at five cents per megabyte for data, five cents per minute for phone calls, and two cents per SMS message. Once fully implemented, users will still be subject to a fair use policy when roaming.

In terms of net neutrality, the EU did not go quite as far as the U.S. in enacting rules regarding Internet traffic. The new provisions still allow carriers and telecoms to prioritize certain traffic like live streaming TV as long as it does not negatively impact other users.

Günther Oettinger with Germany says,

“I welcome today’s crucial agreement to finally end roaming charges and establish pragmatic net neutrality rules throughout the EU. Both are essential for consumers and businesses.”

One area that did not get addressed in the final agreement was a method to manage sales of spectrum in EU countries. Despite a desire to see these sales aligned better, the various countries seem to see the spectrum as more valuable unfettered by such limitations.

source: Financial Times

Come comment on this article: Net neutrality and no roaming charges headed to Europe