UK regulator Ofcom has decided to open investigations into 3 UK and Vodafone UK to assess their compliance with the EU net neutrality rules. Ofcom said it expects to publish an update on both investigations in June. The concerns centre on traffic management practices at the mobile operators, such as throttling and zero-rating.
Ofcom will examine 3 UK's practices of restricting tethering on certain plans; imposing restrictions on the devices in which a SIM can be used; and traffic management practices such as throttling or intentionally slowing down specific categories of traffic.
With regards to Vodafone, Ofcom will examine traffic management practices related to 'Vodafone Passes' such as throttling particular categories of traffic and applying traffic management when customers are roaming; and the transparency of exceptions to zero rating within 'Vodafone Passes' products where certain functions within zero-rated applications use a customer's general allowance and are not zero-rated.
Ofcom said it already gathered evidence in an own-initiative enforcement programme investigating ISP traffic management policies, including those related to mobile roaming, and other ISP practices covered by the EU Open Internet Access Regulation.
