Italian communications regulator Agcom has announced the launch of an investigation into the Veon and ‘Music by 3’ apps offered by newly-merged operator Wind Tre on the grounds that they may infringe net neutrality rules. The Veon platform was launched by Wind late last year and offers an app for messaging, VoIP and a range of often zero-rated offers from the company and partners. Similarly, the ‘Music by 3’ app allows customers to continue streaming music from the operator’s catalogue even if they have run out of data.
In its decision the regulator said the apps could be regarded as discriminatory against services such as WhatsApp for messages and Spotify for music, which continue to count against mobile data bundles. “The zero-rating offers of Wind and Tre are deemed to discriminate against other traffic,” said Agcom, which has given the operator until 15 April to inform it of the measures taken to adjust its offer in accordance with EU net neutrality rules, namely EU regulation no. 2120 of 2015.
The Veon app was launched across Italy last Christmas as part of the new joint venture between Vimpelcom's Wind and CK Hutchison's 3 Italia that was formally completed on 07 November. The Wind Tre venture is now the country’s leading mobile operator with a 33.1 percent share of the market according to recent Agcom figures.
