Brussels, 19/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - The “connected continent” trialogue is due to start at the end of March between the Council of Ministers and European Parliament. INTUG, the international association of business users of telecommunications and ETNO, the association representing Europe's leading telecom operators, have called for the EU institutions, “to adopt user-friendly, innovation-enhancing and investment-conducive rules on the Open Internet”. The two associations defend the right to provide “specialised services” for those who request them and believe that users need quality, choice, the freedom of innovation, as well as harmonised European level rules. This means:
Quality: As the usage of the Internet goes mobile and ubiquitous, European users need reliable, stable and top quality connectivity. Today's Internet, its reliability and its quality depend upon traffic management and the technologies embedded in the Internet's infrastructure. We need this to remain possible if we are to empower satisfactory user experience.
Choice: Not all users are the same and they value different offers, tailored to their needs. Telecom operators need to be able to respond to the diverse requirements of their customers, big or small. This diversified demand is only met if operators are able to provide users with a wide variety of Internet access products and services.
Freedom to innovate: Digitalisation of formerly analogue industries - from transport (“connected cars”) and health (“e-health”) to manufacturing - is contributing to create new growth opportunities for enterprises. In this field innovation is essential, whether related to new products or new business models. The possibility of providing specialised services at guaranteed levels of quality for these industries must be allowed so that their modernisation is not hampered.
Harmonised rules: A patchwork of national rules on net neutrality will simply not work. Europe needs to find a single, high-level approach to net neutrality for all users. The two organisations conclude that EU harmonisation is key in a global environment, as companies will benefit from consistency of rules across markets. (Isabelle Lamberty)