Brussels, 18/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 18 March, the committee on industry, research and energy of the European Parliament adopted (30 votes to 12, with 14 abstentions) the report by Pilar del Castillo Vera (EPP, Spain) on the single electronic communications market. The telecommunications package is to be examined by the EP in plenary during the session of 2-3 April.
In its adoption of this report, the parliamentary committee is arguing in favour of the consolidation of the digital market. It takes position against roaming charges, in favour of the effective management of radio frequencies and in favour of net neutrality. The parliamentary committee appears divided over the last of these points. The S&D and Greens/EFA Groups criticised provisions which would jeopardise this principle.
The report “builds in further safeguards for internet openness, by ensuring that users can run and provide applications and services of their choice as well as strengthening the internet as a key driver of competitiveness, economic growth, social development and innovation”, said rapporteur del Castillo Vera.
Internet neutrality. The report contains provisions which will prevent telecommunications companies from degrading or blocking internet connections to their competitors' services and applications, in order to make sure that users can use and provide applications and services of their choice. The S&D Group, which abstained during the final vote, spoke out against a lack of clarity that could endanger the principle of net neutrality. “Net neutrality continues to be a red line (…). We need a more precise definition of 'specialist services' so that there can be no confusion with 'internet access services', for which we want a binding reference to the principle of net neutrality”, said the shadow rapporteur, the French MEP Catherine Trautman. “We are not opposed to the specialist services (…), but the development of new specialist services must not be allowed to affect the speed or quality of consumers' access to the internet”, added Teresa Riera Madurell of Spain.
The Greens see net neutrality as having been “seriously threatened”. They argue that the “specialist services” will downgrade equality of access for base users, due to the agreements concluded between the operators and service providers, which will be allowed to favour certain flows. “Although the downgrading of flows is not permitted, the improvement of some of them, in the event of a contractual agreement between two private players, will be”, stressed Green member Sandrine Bélier. Basically, if a giant like YouTube concludes an agreement with an operator, its access to internet users could be facilitated at the expense of a rival which cannot afford to come into line with this agreement, she explained.
Roaming. Most of the MEPs supported the provisions aiming to ban roaming charges in the EU by 15 December 2015. However, in order to protect operators from abnormal or abusive retail use, the MEPs called on the European Commission to draft guidelines for exceptional cases, which will allow operators to apply charges. However, these must be within the upper limits laid down in the current provisions on roaming. Additionally, the MEPs disagreed with the Commission over the need to regulate prices for international telephone calls made from the country of origin of the user.
Radio-electric spectrum. In order to guarantee that all the available radio frequencies are fully used, the MEPs tabled amendments to facilitate the purchase and leasing of rights, in order to get the most out of all resources. These rights should be validated for a minimum of 25 years in order to encourage investment and innovation. (IL)