Research & Development World

  • Home Page
  • Topics
    • Aerospace
    • Archeology
    • Automotive
    • Biotech
    • Chemistry
    • COVID-19
    • Environment
    • Energy
    • Life Science
    • Material Science
    • R&D Market Pulse
    • R&D Management
    • Physics
  • Technology
    • 3D Printing
    • A.I./Robotics
    • Battery Technology
    • Controlled Environments
      • Cleanrooms
      • Graphene
      • Lasers
      • Regulations/Standards
      • Sensors
    • Imaging
    • Nanotechnology
    • Scientific Computing
      • Big Data
      • HPC/Supercomputing
      • Informatics
      • Security
      • Software
    • Semiconductors
  • 2021 R&D 100 Award Winners
    • R&D 100 Awards
    • 2020 Winners
    • Winner Archive
  • Resources
    • Digital Issues
    • Podcasts
    • Subscribe
  • Global Funding Forecast
  • Webinars

European Parliament Adopts Net Neutrality Law

By R&D Editors | April 4, 2014

European policy is now departing sharply with the route taken in the U.S., where a net neutrality law was struck down in January. AMSTERDAM (AP) — The European Parliament adopted a “net neutrality” bill on April 3, 2014, barring Internet service providers from giving preference to some kinds of traffic on their networks — such as streaming video — when it profits them.

The legislation responded to fears that providers would allot the lion’s share of their bandwidth to people and companies willing to pay extra, slowing the Internet for others.

The bill also forbids telecommunications companies from blocking or degrading Internet services such as Skype or WhatsApp to prevent them from competing with their own offerings.

European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes, who authored the bill, hailed the 534-25 vote as “historic.”

The vote was greeted with delight by consumer advocates and online freedoms groups, and with dismay by telecoms, who say they are systematically being denied profits they need to innovate and invest in new capacity.

European policy is now departing sharply with the route taken in the U.S., where a net neutrality law was struck down in January. Since then, Netflix has contracted with Comcast for preferential treatment of Internet traffic bearing its film streams.

As part of the same package of telecommunications reforms, “roaming” charges that mobile phone users pay when traveling in other countries will be banned within the European Union by 2016.

“Europe’s telecoms operators are facing decreasing revenues … compared with operators in the U.S. and Asia,” said the GSM Association, an industry group for mobile phone companies. In a statement signed by director Anne Bouverot, the group said European laws are “impairing their ability to invest in the infrastructure required to put Europe back on the path to growth and jobs.”

The bill must pass a final hurdle before it becomes law: approval by national politicians at a Council of the European Union meeting later this year.

“Now the pressure turns to European leaders to listen to the people — not Vodafone, Orange, Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica,” said Luis Morago of activist group Avaaz, referring to a group of Europe’s largest telecommunications companies.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Related Articles Read More >

Frontier supercomputer debuts as world’s fastest, breaking exascale barrier
R&D 100 winner of the day: Mochi: Customizable Data Navigation Tool
Siemens collaborates with Pasqal to research quantum applications in computer aided engineering, simulation and testing
Q-CTRL and The Paul Scherrer Institute partner to support the scale-up of quantum computers
2021 R&D Global Funding Forecast

Need R&D World news in a minute?

We Deliver!
R&D World Enewsletters get you caught up on all the mission critical news you need in research and development. Sign up today.
Enews Signup

R&D World Digital Issues

February 2020 issue

Browse the most current issue of R&D World and back issues in an easy to use high quality format. Clip, share and download with the leading R& magazine today.

Research & Development World
  • Subscribe to R&D World Magazine
  • Enews Sign Up
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing
  • 2022 Global Funding Forecast

Copyright © 2022 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search R&D World

  • Home Page
  • Topics
    • Aerospace
    • Archeology
    • Automotive
    • Biotech
    • Chemistry
    • COVID-19
    • Environment
    • Energy
    • Life Science
    • Material Science
    • R&D Market Pulse
    • R&D Management
    • Physics
  • Technology
    • 3D Printing
    • A.I./Robotics
    • Battery Technology
    • Controlled Environments
      • Cleanrooms
      • Graphene
      • Lasers
      • Regulations/Standards
      • Sensors
    • Imaging
    • Nanotechnology
    • Scientific Computing
      • Big Data
      • HPC/Supercomputing
      • Informatics
      • Security
      • Software
    • Semiconductors
  • 2021 R&D 100 Award Winners
    • R&D 100 Awards
    • 2020 Winners
    • Winner Archive
  • Resources
    • Digital Issues
    • Podcasts
    • Subscribe
  • Global Funding Forecast
  • Webinars