Europe Needs Dutch Courage Over Net Neutrality

The Internet is an ever changing and constantly evolving organism in which technical developments almost always outpace legislative changes and nowhere is this more evident than in the issue of net-neutrality – the concept that providers of Internet services should not show any preference to one source of data over the other.

Without net-neutrality laws or strict guidelines in place, service providers can choose to slow the speed at which certain types of data, such as VoIP or video, is moved along a network or even choose to block that data entirely.

Net neutrality is such an important issue in not only the telecommunications space, but in the world at large, because the management of Internet traffic is often channeled and manipulated to benefit the network providers rather than the consumer.

Which is why recent news from the Netherlands is so promising.

The Dutch senate’s lower house has just passed a law forbidding both the blocking of Internet services and the manipulation of network traffic by operators.  The Netherlands is the first country to introduce such a law and its significance cannot be overstated

Prohibition

The success of VoIP services in recent years has had a direct impact on the revenues of major telecom operators.  It’s no surprise then that Mobile Network Operators (MNO) often impair the flow of data which carries VoIP.

In January, the Internet Telephony Services Providers’ Association (ITSPA) condemned several major British MNOs including Vodafone, Orange and T-Mobile, for prohibiting the use of VoIP in a significant amount of customer packages.

In extreme cases, companies such as T-Mobile have even blocked customer access to VoIP services such as Skype completely.  This is despite the fact the overall amount of bandwidth being used in such instances was not affecting the operator’s overall quality of service.

Such anti-competitive practices urgently need to be addressed.  Otherwise the possibility exists that operators could simply block or impair services they feel impact upon their own revenue.

The bottom line is that data is just that, data. It’s all 1s and 0s, and since we already pay for the right to send and receive them using our iPhone or Android, it should be our own decision, not the operators, as to what kind of apps we can and cannot use.

Additional extras

Earlier this month, European Internet provider TeliaSonera stated that it will now charge additional fees to Spanish users of VoIP.  There are also legitimate concerns in Sweden that similar action is imminent in their market.

Such practices not only limit options for individual consumers looking for the best mobile phone deal, it also limits the abilities of businesses to grow and develop.

VoIP technology can massively reduce business costs and allow companies to communicate more innovatively.  Those cost savings can then be diverted into other avenues, helping a company to grow.

Allowing MNO to create a tiered charging system whereby users of VoIP services are forced to pay extra is simply unfair.

It’s also illogical that certain providers do not restrict far more data heavy processes, such as film or music streaming, but do block VoIP services.  When this happens it shows the fallacy of the often-repeated argument from MNOs that charging for VoIP services helps to ensure the overall smoothness and quality of their service.

Change is coming

Alongside the recent net neutrality news from the Netherlands, the issue hasn’t escaped the notice of the European Parliament which has previously stated their wish for the Internet to be ‘open and neutral’.

Furthermore, the European Commission and The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communication (BEREC) published their initial findings from a large scale survey of over 400 operators (made up of 250 fixed operators and 150 mobile operators).

The report confirmed that blocking of VoIP is common and the findings will surely help to shape potential EU legislation in this area.

Recent murmurings from political bodies such as the European Commission, as listed above, offer hope that things may soon take a turn for the best in regards to net neutrality.

Whilst the Dutch legislation still has to be formally ratified, the outlook seems to be good and will hopefully create a ripple effect, which will push us ever nearer to a fair and neutral Internet.

Andreas Bernstrom is the CEO of Rebtel

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