By Frances Robinson
BRUSSELS--European Union lawmakers vote Thursday on a broad
package of reforms that will ultimately influence how online
traffic will be regulated across bloc and whether or not Internet
providers will be able to charge more for certain services.
The proposed legislation covers everything from ending roaming
charges to consumer rights, such as switching mobile tariff plans,
but the most contentious part is the issue of "net neutrality"--the
concept of giving equal treatment to all Internet traffic,
regardless of location, the device used or the content of the
service.
The reform package, once approved by the EU parliament Thursday
and then by individual member states in the coming months, will be
Europe's first ever "net neutrality" legislation: currently, only
the Netherlands and Slovenia have enshrined the concept in national
law.
"Net neutrality is the single most important part of the
legislative package," Christian Engström, a Swedish Pirate Party
MEP backing the Socialist/Green amendments, told The Wall Street
Journal. "This debate is what freedom of enterprise was 100 years
ago."
Parliamentarians will likely vote to strengthen the net
neutrality clauses from the European Commission's original
proposals put forward last year--potentially adding terms about the
"right to access and distribute information and content, run and
provide applications and services" irrespective of location or
device, and ensuring that all traffic is treated equally, rather
than privileging that of some customers over others.
But there are two sets of possible changes on the table: one
agreed by the Parliamentary Committee on Industry, Research and
Energy (ITRE) earlier this month, which strengthen the "net
neutrality" provision from the commission's original proposal, and
a rival set of amendments, which go further on not restricting
Internet traffic, put forward by parties including the socialists,
green parties, liberals and the far-left.
Whichever set of amendments wins the vote will be the
Parliament's stance when it negotiates with EU member
states--represented by the European Council--on the final
legislative text. In the unlikely event the majority of the
parliament fails to back either set of amendments, the original
commission text will prevail. EU member states have yet to agree on
their common position: once they have, the council and parliament
both negotiate the final text at the commission, which is hoping
for a final outcome by October 2014.
Decisions taken in Europe now could have far-reaching
consequences as online traffic explodes. Video services such as
Google Inc.'s YouTube and Netflix Inc. place unprecedented demands
on the Internet's infrastructure. The parallel debate in the U.S.
has seen Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules on net
neutrality challenged in court, and Netflix Inc. agree to pay U.S.
cable operator Comcast Corp. to ensure quality of service.
According to Cisco Systems Inc.'s global Internet Protocol (IP)
traffic forecast, consumer Internet video traffic will be 69% of
all consumer Internet traffic in 2017, up from 57% in 2012--not
including peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing. Mobile Internet use on
smartphones and connected devices such as cars or health monitoring
chips are also adding to the strain on networks.
Internet providers, such as those represented by trade
association ETNO, the European Telecommunications Network
Operators' Association, want to charge more for certain services,
such as guaranteed connection quality for corporate
teleconferencing
Open Internet advocate Mr. Engström, said the Internet
providers' argument was "completely self-serving," and such
companies should be building more networks to cope with growing
demand, rather than behaving as "rent-seekers." "Only former
monopolies could start thinking like that," he added.
The run-up to the vote has been heated with both sides of the
debate putting forward public positions. European Commissioner for
the digital agenda, Neelie Kroes, who drafted the original
proposal, said, "if we agree on the need to manage specialized
services carefully, then the debate that we are having is about how
we achieve this, not about being for or against the open
Internet."
Write to Frances Robinson at frances.robinson@wsj.com
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