ARCEP Calls for the "elimination of service blocking (VoIP, P2P) on mobile networks"

   

ARCEP, the French regulator, announced that it has submitted "the draft version of its report to Parliament and the Government on Net neutrality to public consultation" (here, French).
 

In September 2010, ARCEP published "10 propositions for Network Neutrality" (here) and the public consultation contributions it received by then (here). "The projects that began, and about which Parliament has queried ARCEP, concern transparency, quality of service, interconnection and traffic management .. ARCEP and the State departments responsible for telecommunications and consumer affairs co-host a working group on this issue that is populated by the sector’s stakeholders. Its conclusions will be made public in autumn 2012".

  

"However, competition and transparency alone are not enough, and need to be completed by other actions in the arena of quality of service, interconnection and traffic management:

• .. to track the quality of internet access services and avoid the creation of an internet that operates “at several speeds,” ARCEP will adopt a decision in summer 2012 – which comes to complement the existing scheme on mobile networks – and which specifies QoS indicators for wireline networks which will be measured and made public
   
• ARCEP has taken an inventory of traffic management practices – i.e. the differentiated treatment of internet traffic streams, such as throttling, blocking or priority queues – being employed by operators today. Under certain circumstances, these practices could hinder the principle of Net neutrality .. ARCEP is therefore calling for the steady elimination of service blocking (VoIP, P2P) on mobile networks. If the market fails to make sufficient progress on its own, the Law gives ARCEP the powers needed to enforce its recommendations.
   

See "ARCEP submits draft version of its report to Parliament and the Government on Net neutrality to public consultation" - here.