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EU Parliament approves net neutrality, end to roaming fees
2014-04-03 12:19:00| Telecompaper Headlines
(Telecompaper) The European Parliament has approved legislation aimed at strengthening the single market in telecom services. The package notably brings an end to additional charges for mobile roaming in the EU and introduces the concept of net neutrality in EU law. From 15 December 2015, operators will no longer be able to charge higher prices for roaming the region, for voice, SMS or data. These must be in line with national charges. The EU regulator Berec will develop criteria to allow fair-use policies, so operators can still prevent misuse of the roaming services. The MEPs also strengthened the net neutrality proposal compared to the European Commission's initial text. This prevents ISPs from blocking or throttling certain applications or services on their networks. The EC had proposed allowing an exception to the rule for certain "special services", but the Parliament tightened the definition of these services in order to avoid a major loophole in the law. Under the adopted text, only services that are not readily available through the internet, such as medical applications, can fall under the 'special services' definition. These special services furthermore cannot impact the 'open' nature of the rest of the internet, in line with the requirement that operators may not discriminate between different types of data over their networks. The law remains subject to negotiations between the Parliament and EU Council on the final text of the legislation, after which each body must approve the final version before it takes effect.
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Category:Telecommunications