Swedish postal and telecoms regulator PTS said it will issue an injunction ordering Telia Company to comply with rules on zero-rated internet traffic. PTS said that under EU regulations, all web traffic must be treated equally, once consumers have used up all the data included in their subscription.
PTS is of the opinion that Telia applies traffic management measures in its "Free surf on social media" and "Free surf listening" offers that infringe the EU regulation stating that ISPs must treat all web traffic equally. The watchdog’s stance is based on the fact that certain services or applications in those offers are excluded from the data cap that applies to the underlying internet access service as a whole.
This implies that when the data volume is consumed, all internet traffic is being blocked, except for such services and applications that form part of the relevant offers. According to PTS, this should be regarded as unlawful traffic management.
PTS is now publishing a draft decision, declaring its intent to issue an injunction on Telia to treat all traffic equally once the data cap is reached.
In a similar case regarding 3 Sweden’s offer "Free surf for music streaming", Hutchison unit Tre has now informed PTS that it will change the service in future, to avoid violating the regulation. PTS said it takes a positive view of Tre’s decision and will closely follow this development to ensure that the necessary changes are implemented.
PTS added that the EU regulation also stipulates how various commercial practices may affect customers’ ability to access an open internet, which is not the primary focus of the current examination.
