European politicians have agreed to end roaming mobile charges in the region by mid 2017, with significant cuts to fees by next summer. MEPs also voted to bring in EU-wide net neutrality rules. The vote took place in the European Parliament this afternoon.
The preliminary deal on the two issues was agreed in June, following multi-year negotiations between the European Commission, Council and Parliament.
Both issues form part of Europe’s Telecoms Single Market initiative which was set out back in 2013, with the aim of boosting the region’s global competitiveness and fostering digital jobs by reducing market fragmentation.
Speaking ahead of the vote in the European Parliament today, European Commission VP Andrus Ansip, who heads up the Digital Single Market strategy, described the agreement as “a good deal, for Europe and Europeans”.
“I’m also really happy that we able to find consensus in common principles of net neutrality. No blocking, no throttling, no pre-paid prioritisation,” he added.
However there has been controversy over the net neutrality component of the deal — with critics claiming the proposed rules would undermine the principle that all network traffic should be treated equally because they sanction ‘fast lanes’ for so-called “specialized services with quality requirements”; allow network owners to offer zero rated services; and offer net neutrality exceptions, such as for congestion management.