[governance] Regulatory reforms Netherlands

[parminder]

A very positive move.

I am eager to know what happens if instead of levying extra charges on a 
particular service, if a particular service, or a package of them, are 
being offered at a price less than that of the public Internet. Does 
this regulation and mentioned penalties apply in that case as well. 
Because offering some services cheap is the same thing as offering the 
rest of the services at a premium.

I ask this because this is the way net neutrality is being violated on 
mobiles in India at present. Telecoms offer a package of services like 
Facebook, google, youtube etc for a cheap lump sum. I am not sure if 
they get paid by these companies for this or not.

  I think this will be a model that will catch on in developing 
countries. Such a model has to do with the structural conditions in 
developing countries, and therefore is an important development issue, 
of the kind that I see the IGF mostly skirt.

Parminder

On Friday 24 June 2011 07:42 PM, michael gurstein wrote:
> The International *Herald* *Tribune**/NY Times*
>
> *June* 23, 2011 Thursday
>
> FINANCE; Pg. 1
>
> 1204 words
>
>
> *Dutch ban extra Net phone fees;
> Under law, telecoms may no longer charge for using services like Skype*
> **
> BY KEVIN O'BRIEN
>
> BERLIN
>
>
>
> ABSTRACT The Netherlands has become the first country in Europe to ban 
> its mobile operators from blocking or charging consumers extra for 
> using Internet-based services like Skype.
>
> FULL TEXT The Netherlands on Wednesday became the first country in 
> Europe, and only the second in the world, to enshrine the concept of 
> network neutrality into national law by banning its mobile telephone 
> operators from blocking or charging consumers extra for using 
> Internet-based communications services like Skype or WhatsApp, a free 
> text service. The measure, which was adopted with a broad majority in 
> the lower house of the Dutch Parliament, the Tweede Kamer, will 
> prevent KPN, the Dutch telecommunications market leader, and the Dutch 
> units of Vodafone and T-Mobile, from blocking or charging for Internet 
> services. Its sponsors said that the measure would pass a pro-forma 
> review in the Dutch Senate without hitches. Analysts said that the 
> legal restrictions imposed in the Netherlands could shape Europe's 
> broader, evolving debate over network neutrality, pushing more 
> countries on the Continent to limit operators from acting as 
> self-appointed toll collectors of the mobile Internet. ''I could also 
> see some countries following the Dutch example,'' said Jacques de 
> Greling, an analyst at Natixis, a French bank. ''I believe there will 
> be pressure from consumers to make it clear what they are buying, 
> whether it is the full Internet or Internet-light.'' Advocates hailed 
> the move as a victory for consumers, while industry officials 
> predicted that mobile broadband charges could rise in the Netherlands 
> to compensate for the new restrictions. ''We support network 
> neutrality,'' said Sandra de Jong, a spokeswoman for Consumentenbond, 
> the largest Dutch consumer organization, based in The Hague. ''We 
> don't think operators should be able to restrict the Internet. That 
> would be a bad precedent.'' Luigi Gambardella, the chairman of the 
> executive board of the European Telecommunications Network Operators' 
> Association, an industry group based in Brussels, warned that the 
> Dutch legislation could deter operators from making needed investments 
> in high-speed networks for fear of building expensive but unprofitable 
> infrastructure. ''Any additional regulation should avoid deterring 
> investment or innovative business models, leading to a more efficient 
> use of the networks and to creating new business opportunities,'' Mr. 
> Gambardella said. He said operators needed the ability to charge 
> different tariffs for different levels of service, to recoup the costs 
> of data-intensive applications. Operators could still offer a range of 
> mobile data tariffs with different download speeds and levels of 
> service, but they would not be able to tie specific rates to the use 
> of specific free Internet services. Under the law, Dutch operators 
> could be fined up to 10 percent of their annual sales for violations 
> by the national telecommunications regulator, OPTA. Patrick Nickolson, 
> a spokesman for KPN, said that the measure could lead to higher 
> broadband prices in the Netherlands because operators would be limited 
> in their ability to structure differentiated data packages based on 
> consumption. ''We regret that the Dutch Parliament didn't take more 
> time to consider this,'' Mr. Nickolson said. ''This will limit our 
> ability to develop a new portfolio of tariffs and there is at least 
> the risk of higher prices, because our options to differentiate will 
> now be more limited.'' Stephen Collins, the head of government and 
> regulatory affairs in London for Skype, applauded the move by the 
> Dutch lawmakers. ''Skype welcomes the sensible and fair approach the 
> Dutch Parliament has adopted today,'' Mr. Collins said. ''It sets an 
> example for other countries in Europe and elsewhere to follow.'' Bruno 
> Braakhuis, a Dutch legislator from Haarlem who was the original 
> sponsor of the legislation, called the adoption a victory for Dutch 
> consumers. ''For us, this is really a basic right,'' said Mr. 
> Braakhuis, a member of the GreenLeft party. ''We consider network 
> neutrality to be as important as freedom of the press, freedom of 
> speech.'' The Dutch restrictions on operators are the first in the 
> 27-nation European Union. The European Commission and European 
> Parliament have endorsed network neutrality guidelines but as yet have 
> taken no legal action against operators that block or impose extra 
> fees on consumers using services like Skype, the voice and video 
> Internet service being acquired by Microsoft, and WhatsApp, a mobile 
> software maker which is based in Santa Clara, California. Sanctions 
> may be coming, however. In May, the European telecommunications 
> commissioner, Neelie Kroes, warned operators to stop blocking or 
> charging extra for Skype or she would take unspecified action this 
> year. So far, only a few operators, like 3 UK of Britain, a unit of 
> the Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa, have allowed their 
> customers to have unfettered use of Internet services with their 
> flat-rate wireless data packages. Maxime Verhagen, the Dutch deputy 
> prime minister who supported the net neutrality restrictions, said 
> that the new rules would ensure that Internet services were never 
> threatened. ''The blocking of services or the imposition of a levy is 
> a brake on innovation,'' Mr. Verhagen said. ''That's not good for the 
> economy. This measure guarantees a completely free Internet which both 
> citizens and the providers of the online services can then rely on.'' 
> Besides the Netherlands, only one country, Chile, has written network 
> neutrality requirements into its telecommunications law. The Chilean 
> law, which was approved in July 2010, only took effect in May. In the 
> United States, an attempt by the Federal Communications Commission to 
> impose a similar set of network neutrality restrictions on U.S. 
> operators, a bid to prevent them from blocking or imposing fees on 
> data-intensive services, has been tied up in legal challenges from the 
> industry. The debate over net neutrality in the Netherlands erupted in 
> May when Eelco Blok, the new chief executive of KPN, the former phone 
> monopoly, announced plans to create a new set of mobile data tariffs 
> that included charges on services like WhatsApp that allow smartphone 
> users to avoid operator charges for sending text messages. Use of the 
> free text service has spread rapidly, eroding operator text revenues. 
> According to KPN, 85 percent of the company's customers who use a 
> Google Android phone downloaded WhatsApp onto their handsets from last 
> August through April. As a result, KPN's revenue from text messaging, 
> which had risen 8 percent in the first quarter of 2010 from a year 
> earlier, declined 13 percent in the first quarter of this year. At a 
> presentation to investors in London on May 10, analysts questioned 
> where KPN had obtained the rapid adoption figures for WhatsApp. A 
> midlevel KPN executive explained that the operator had deployed 
> analytical software which uses a technology called deep packet 
> inspection to scrutinize the communication habits of individual users. 
> The disclosure, widely reported in the Dutch news media, set off an 
> uproar that fueled the legislative drive, which in less than two 
> months culminated in lawmakers adopting the Continent's first net 
> neutrality measures with real teeth.
>
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