Today the Dutch House of Representatives will debate all afternoon to amend the Telecommunications Act, and net neutrality will play an important role. The opposition parties, with the Liberal Democrats (D66) among the most fanatic supporters, announced that they want to define net neutrality in the law.  They advocate for a ban on blocking access to and price differentiation of  (free) internet services like Skype and Whats App by telecom providers. Digital rights movement Bits of Freedom (BoF) is supporting the bid for codification of net neutrality, as is the Dutch Consumer Association.

The Dutch liberal party VVD and telecom operators such as KPN and Vodafone are against defining net neutrality in the law. The Telco’s are losing huge revenues, because the popular free calling services (Skype) and SMS services (Whats App) are replacing their paid services. Moreover, they warn that maintaining the (fast) network is a risk. Last night, Vodafone also reported that consumers want to choose which mobile services they are going to use with their smart phones, and that they want to be able to opt for a cheaper subscription with less services.

"If net neutrality is prescribed by law, telecom providers can no longer apply internet restrictions, so it is no longer possible to offer discounts to consumers for whom it is appropriate. The result will be a steep rise in prices of mobile internet use for a large group of consumers, " Vodafone said.

Although the pro-government party PVV has given some comments about net neutrality and seems to be positive about including it in the law, their point of view is still not entirely clear. The position of CDA, currently in government, has not yet taken a clear position. The conclusion of this debate is unclear, we will have to wait and see.

The European Parliament has already taken its stance: they do not recommend forced net neutrality, because it is not yet clear what the effects of the current rules are. This is illustrated in a recent study, conducted for the European Parliament. The current debate on amending the Telecom law in Dutch Parliament is a direct result of this EU regulatory framework, which was established in 2009 and had to be implemented by Member States by the end of May. These regulations include requirements for consumer protection, such as transparency, the possibility to quickly and easily transfer and sufficient competition in the telecom market.

References: Webwereld.nl and Telegraaf.nl