EU, regulators urged to look into net neutrality

European Union ministers has asked the European Commission and pan-European regulator BEREC to look into whether some ISPs are throttling some services in favor of others. According to a Tuesday Reuters report, the concern is that net neutrality may be hampered, with Internet calling services such as Skype possibly affected. BEREC will publish a joint report from regulators in the 27 EU member states in February that will summarize its findings.

ISPs, many which also offer cellphone service, sometimes see Skype as a threat to their business as they are much lower in cost. The VON Europe VoIP association maintains Vodafone restricts access to services such as Skype while Orange, Bouygues Telecom, E-Plus, and KPN don't allow VoIP services at all on their mobile data connections.

Carriers have usually tried to argue that either 3G doesn't match the quality expectations for voice or that it might overtax their networks.

By Electronista Staff