[France]: Free's Traffic Management does not Discriminate

   

ARCEP, the French regulator, is happy with its ability to monitor ISPs for non conformance to Net Neutrality rules (see "France Implements Monitoring System to Track QoE and Net Neutrality" - here).

This follows a complaint it got against the relations between Free (ISP) and Google (with which the French government has its own issues - see "France Vs. Google (Weapon: bandwidth management)" - here) and inquiry made by ARCEP, trying to understand if users or applications were discriminated.

The agency announced it ".. closes the administrative inquiry involving several companies, including Free and Google, on the technical and financial terms governing IP traffic routing. If the inquiry did not reveal any discriminatory practices in the terms governing interconnection and IP traffic routing between the two companies, it did confirm the relevance of ARCEP’s monitoring of these issues, and its goal of providing internet users with clear information on the quality of internet access services in France" 

".. Over a six-month observation period, the enquiry made it possible to ascertain:- that traffic between Free and Google is relayed both directly, via peering, and indirectly through paid interconnection involving several international transit providers;- that Free’s interconnection and IP data traffic routing capacities are congested during peak hours, as use of the most bandwidth-hungry applications continues to rise. This is an issue that all ISPs are having to contend with. The inquiry did not reveal any discriminatory practices in the terms governing interconnection and IP traffic routing between the two companies".

".. The inquiry did not reveal that Free was employing traffic management techniques on its network that differentiated traffic routing conditions based on the type of content, its origin, its destination or the type of protocol used"

See "Net neutrality" - here.

France Vs. Google (Weapon: bandwidth management)

Slovenia, Chile, the Netherlands - and even the US already have Net Neutrality laws, but French ISPs are busy fighting with content providers (i.e. Google) - trying to push the American giant to pay for traffic delivery.

Two years ago the French Government said that "Google and Foreign OTTs to Pay for Networks Usage" (here) but since then the French regulator, ARCEP, called for the "elimination of service blocking (VoIP, P2P) on mobile networks" (here). French ISPs are not impressed.

• TeleGeography reports (here) that "The French operator France Telecom-Orange (FT-Orange) is reportedly restricting bandwidth for online video services such as YouTube as part of a peering dispute with Google and its internet backbone provider Cogent Communications. According to a report from Fierce Wireless, FT-Orange wants Cogent to pay for the additional traffic being generated by streaming video services, and its decision to charge for access has been backed up by the French competition watchdog Autorite de la Concurrence.
  
  Meanwhile, technology minister Fleur Pellerin (pictured) has commented: ‘We need to ask serious questions about how Web companies can put some money into networks,’ Bloomberg reports".
     

• The French ISP Free announced (here) it will block ads for their home gateway users (by default!). This time the French Government demanded that Free wont do that - see "France Rejects Plan by Internet Provider to Block Online Ads"(here), and Free gave-up. 

A "Bizarre" French Idea – Data Caps on Fixed Service

  
The press reports that "Three major internet service providers in France are discussing plans to introduce caps on "unlimited" web access - making heavy users pay a surcharge .. SFR, Orange and Bouygues are looking at the case for bringing in new limits on the packages they offer to domestic customers, in order to better control traffic levels .. Free said it had "reservations" and Numéricable said it was "not involved" in the talks".

We use to see this strategy with wireless providers, but this one refers to fixed service. Nevertheless, we have seen this before in other places (Comcast, Canada, AT&T - DSL)- but still Arcep, the regulator said the idea was "bizarre".

"One of the most vocal critics of the idea this weekend was Marine Le Pen (pictured), the leader of the far-right Front National. She is drawing up an "internet freedom" law including a clause that would make web access "a fundamental right for every citizen" (here, French). 

   

See "Operators plan cap on 'unlimited' web" (here) or "Bientôt la fin de l'internet illimité à domicile ?" (here, French)