Ofcom Probe Mobile Providers for Possible Breaches of Net Neutrality

Mobile operators Three UK and Vodafone in the United Kingdom have again been identified by a new Ofcom report as potentially being in breach of the EU’s rules for protecting Net Neutrality (i.e. there must be no serious blocking or slowing of access to legal websites or internet services).

The regulation is designed to protect the open internet from abuse (here), which essentially means that broadband ISPs and Mobile Network Operators (MNO) cannot impose excessive restrictions against internet traffic. Naturally there are some exceptions to this, such as for general Traffic Management and security reasons etc.

The rules are applied via a self-regulatory approach in the United Kingdom, which is governed by the Broadband Stakeholder Group and their 2016 Open Internet Code. This code commits signatory ISPs to neutrality and transparency in traffic management on their networks (details).

On top of that Ofcom produces an annual report to the European Commission on their monitoring of the rules. Last year’s update found “no major concerns regarding the openness of the internet in the UK” (here), although it did note a few special offers or discounts that nearly went over the line.

The 2017 report also warned that a number of unnamed broadband ISPs were potentially failing to comply with the rule that says: “end-users have the right to use terminal equipment of their choice.” At the time no details were released but it’s believed that this related to Tethering plans on a mobile operator (i.e. where you use your Mobile Broadband via a Smartphone to give another device, such as a Laptop, internet access).

Since then a number of major providers have launched new services or restrictions that could further test the rules, such as TalkTalk’s move to restrict access to the TeamViewer service (here); although this can be lifted by request. Likewise Vodafone’s new “Passes” that offer “endless” data usage of certain specific apps (here) and Three UK’s “Go Binge” for zero rated Netflix streaming (here) have also raised questions etc.

The 2018 Review

Overall this year’s report didn’t highlight too many new concerns and, in terms of “safeguarding open internet access and traffic management“, Ofcom said they have completed an initial review of “zero-rated” offers by Three UK and Vodafone, and “found that they, as structured at the time of our review, do not present material competition concerns warranting intervention.”

However the regulator said they did identify Traffic Management “issues of concern” and have thus opened an enforcement programme to learn more about these and other such practices, which has included sending information requests to the UK’s largest ISPs. As a result of the information received, they’ve already opened two investigations.

One of these is concerned with Three UK’s practice of prohibiting Tethering on some tariffs and slowing down certain kinds of traffic for customers while they are roaming. The other is concerned with Vodafone’s practice of restricting the resolution of video traffic in its “Passes” offer.

Ofcom’s findings are that..

• At least one mobile ISP, Three, has restricted tethering on certain tariffs. This appears to conflict with the requirement of the Regulation that end-users should have the right to use the terminal equipment of their choice, and so we have opened a formal investigation;

• The new zero-rated offers of Three and Vodafone that came on the market in 2017, as structured at the time of our review do not appear to warrant formal investigation in respect of competition-related concerns; and

• Two “zero-rated” offers by mobile ISP Vodafone, however, have restricted the resolution of video. This raises concerns about the propriety of Vodafone’s traffic management under the Regulation, and so we opened a formal investigation. With respect to traffic management, we also identified that mobile ISP Three has slowed down certain kinds of traffic for certain customers. This too raises concerns about compliance with the Regulation, and so our investigation of the company also addresses this issue.

We actually covered the probe of Three UK and Vodafone back in March when it first began (here) and unfortunately today’s update doesn’t really add anything new, although it does explain a lot more about the regulator’s rationale for their investigation. You can read the full Net Neutrality Report online.