[PolicyReview] US Communications Commission decision to fuel further fight in the EU

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Digital rights activists hailed the European Parliament’s April 2014 vote in favour of net neutrality and called it a hard fought success. Yet the dice are still rolling and the much debated US Federal Communication Commission’s move of 15 May 2014 favouring a dichotomy of regular and specialised services may well serve those asking for ‘balance’ between the net neutrality principle and the protection of telecom investment, not the least EU governments. The status report of the Hellenic presidency for this week’s telecom Council clearly illustrates that net neutrality is far from approved in the EU. […]

Michael Fries, CEO of UK-based Liberty Global, said at the ANGA Cable opening panel that net neutrality was an important, but misunderstood topic. Certainly nobody wanted to stop users from going wherever they wanted, but at the same time network providers had to calculate the cost for building the highways. Added Fries: “We will never be a dumb pipe because we are investing in that user interface and we are investing in a whole series of activities from broadband to video to mobile.”

http://policyreview.info/articles/news/us-communications-commission-decision-fuel-further-fight-eu/295