Brussels, 07/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - The historic operators believe that the European Parliament took “a step in the wrong direction” it with its vote on the Connected Continent package on 3 April. In the view of ETNO, the association which defends their interests, Parliament has failed to take account of the calls by the European Commission to “tap all sources of growth to exit the crisis, create jobs and regain competitiveness”. The additional provisions for the Open Internet, the lack of harmonisation of provisions regarding consumers and uncertainty over the provisions on roaming will lead to a tough environment for the telecoms sector, laments ETNO. As regards the Open Internet, the operators believe that the new definition brought in by Parliament could lead to restrictions on choices for users and undermine the competitiveness of European companies. ETNO is particularly concerned by the amendments which call for a separation of specialist services in the public internet network, which will hamper specialist service offerings which are innovative and essential for the future, such as telemedicine or e-education. “If the restrictive changes to the Open Internet provisions are confirmed in the final text, the access of European citizens and businesses to innovative and high-quality services will be negatively affected. This would turn into a dangerous situation”, ETNO warns.
The mobile operators of the association GSMA take the same view. “The package as a whole has failed to respond to the key challenge of stimulating growth and investments”, it states in a press release (our translation). The provisions adopted on the Open Internet will compromise investment, hinder innovation by limiting the availability of personalised services and bring in additional restrictions for traffic management, the mobile operators lament. They feel that this situation will harm Europe's chances in the race to innovation. (IL)