von Simon Muller
Let it be clear that as the Commissioner for Information Society & Media, one of my key concerns is to ensure that the internet remains open from the point of view of service providers wanting to deliver new, innovative services, AND open from the point of view of consumers wanting to access the services of their choice and create the content of their choice.
But we must recognise that openness for innovation sometimes cannot exclude legitimate network management practices. For instance, traffic prioritisation can sometimes be an important driver of value and growth for operators. The Commission’s vision of an open and competitive digital market does allow for traffic prioritisation, especially for providing more innovative services or managing networks effectively. We have to allow network providers to experiment with different consumer offerings. In the end, it will be up to the consumers to decide to change to a provider that offers them what they would like.
For the future, the Commission has proposed, in its review of the Telecoms package, to create the possibility of setting minimum quality levels for network transmission services based on technical standards identified at EU level.
http://www.telemedicus.info/article/994-Net-Neutrality-Was-will-die-EG.html