No Changes Now in Rules for Web Access in Europe

BERLIN -- Europe has sufficient legal safeguards in place to prevent the Continent's telephone operators from selectively managing consumer access to the Internet and no new restrictions are needed, the European commissioner responsible for telecommunications said Thursday.

Speech in Brussels

During a speech in Brussels, Neelie Kroes, the commissioner for the bloc's digital agenda, said that the European Union's executive arm had opted to take a wait-and-see approach on the so-called network neutrality issue, which has become the focus of intense lobbying by operators, online businesses like Google, and free speech advocates on both sides of the Atlantic.

Ms. Kroes, formerly the Union's competition commissioner, said she would work to ensure that a set of 2009 revisions to the main European telecommunications law would maintain open and fair Internet access. The legal overhaul, which takes effect in May, will require national regulators to define "reasonable" network management practices.

The law also prevents operators from blocking or slowing specific Internet services or Web sites, and requires phone companies to disclose their network management practices to consumers.

Regulators have the option of setting minimum levels of broadband service to prevent operators from downgrading basic services to encourage the sale of costlier packages.

Should operators and regulators ultimately fail to cooperate, Ms. Kroes said she was prepared to pursue legal remedies that might allow consumers to quickly switch operators should one block or downgrade broadband service. Currently in Europe, most telecom operators require people to sign one- or two-year service contracts.

The commission's telecommunications advisory group

The commission's telecommunications advisory group, the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications, or Berec, noted in September that operators in more than a dozen countries had slowed or blocked services from file-sharing sites or rivals, like Skype, the voice-over-Internet service that lets consumers avoid mobile calling charges.

Ms. Kroes, a Dutch economist, mentioned during her speech that she had used Skype to call her family last weekend. She advised consumers who were unhappy to leave operators that block, slow or place unacceptable extra charges on VoIP services like Skype.

The commission

But her remarks also suggested that the commission was not going to take action against operators like France Télécom, Deutsche Telekom and others that are currently charging their mobile customers an additional €10 to €15 a month, or $14 to $21, to use VoIP service.

"We should allow network operators and services and content providers to explore innovative business models," Ms. Kroes said.