Zero Rating Breaches Net Neutrality Rules, EU High Court Confirms

EU net neutrality rules ban "zero rating" packages that favor some applications and services while blocking or slowing others, the European Court of Justice said Tuesday (cases C-807/18 and C-39/19). The issue concerns a challenge by Hungarian telco Telenor Magyarorszag to a National Communications and Media Office order to terminate some of its access services. A national court asked the ECJ to interpret provisions of regulation (EU) 2015/2120, which sets out measures on open internet access and user rights. The services allowed subscribers to access certain applications, such as Facebook, Twitter and Apple Music, without deducting the data volume from data packages purchased, and to continue using those services when the data volume was used up, while blocking or slowing data traffic to others. The court found such arrangements breach net neutrality. The outcome wasn't a foregone conclusion, blogged telecom consultant Innocenzo Genna, because zero rating practices aren't clearly covered: The practice was considered to be forbidden, and this judgment "eliminates doubts" that the applicable provisions aim to target such practices. Genna noted the Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications hasn't barred all zero rating practices in principle but left it up to national regulators or courts to assess the impact of such practices on users' rights. The European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association didn't comment.