[ANSOL-geral] Balcanização da rede: já começou...

[André Isidoro Fernandes Esteves]

http://www.euractiv.com/sections/digital/deutsche-telekom-chief-causes-uproar-over-net-neutrality-319028

Deutsche Telekom CEO Timotheus Höttges sparked concerns among net 
neutrality campaigners this week. Following Tuesday's (October 27) 
European Parliament vote, Höttges said Telekom will demand startups pay 
a share of their revenue to get good internet service.

Höttges said telecoms will benefit from the new law, which allows better 
internet quality for specialised services. According to Höttges, small 
startups need those services too—but they'll have to pay a fee for them.

“There needs to be the option of giving priority to data associated with 
sensitive services if the network is congested,” Höttges said.

“Developing innovative internet services with high standards of quality 
will continue to be possible.”

Management of network congestion is another hot button issue that 
critics of the net neutrality bill said could be misused. Some critics 
argued that telecoms would potentially have free rein to step in and 
control internet speed at will.

Negotiations between the European Parliament, Commission and Council 
over net neutrality were often heated and yielded a final compromise 
only after a marathon meeting that ended in the early morning on 30 June.

Critics said the outcome of negotiations was a watered down deal that 
would still allow telecoms operators to offer internet service at 
different speeds. Specialised services are at the centre of campaigners' 
concerns.

EU Digital Commissioner Günther Oettinger has pointed to examples 
e-health and connected cars as services that could be accessed with 
priority speed internet.

Campaigners say that doesn't do enough to clear up the murky definition 
of specialised services that's written into the law.

 >>Read: Parliament green lights roaming and net neutrality

Höttges' statement on Wednesday (28 October) is a first glimpse of how 
major telecoms may interpret those services.

He sparked controversy by claiming that specialised services would give 
a boost to startup businesses.

“Start-ups need special services more than anyone in order to have a 
chance of keeping up with large internet providers,” he argued.

“If they want to bring services to market which require guaranteed good 
transmission quality, it is precisely these companies that need special 
services. By our reckoning, they would pay a couple of percent for this 
in the form of revenue-sharing,” Höttges added.

Simon Schaefer, a private startup investor and founder of Berlin's tech 
hub Factory, called Höttges' claim “ludicrous”.

“They're creating a toll on anybody that doesn't have the liquidity to 
finance whatever price they come up with,” Schaefer told EurActiv.

Startups are overall less likely to be able to afford premium service, 
according to Schaefer. Particularly smaller companies that create online 
games or videos would be disadvantaged, since they need a lot of 
bandwidth and don't have the finances to compete with giants like 
Youtube for better service.

Schaefer said the overarching issue is that there is no understanding of 
specialised services carved out in the new net neutrality law, which is 
part of the broader telecoms single market legislation and also includes 
provisions to drop mobile roaming charges within Europe by 2017.

“The lack of definition is being used now by Mr Höttges. He's making a 
lack of definition into a business model,” Schaefer said.

Allied for Startups, a group that advocates on behalf of startups, 
signed a letter to MEPs before Tuesday's vote on the bill to urge them 
to approve amendments that would have dealt a blow to measures allowing 
specialised services. The amendments were rejected.

Factory, Rome startup association Roma Startup, and several dozen other 
tech companies also signed the letter.

Vodafone Germany has already signalled its agreement with Höttges. 
“There isn't even a one-class internet today,” the company told Spiegel 
Online yesterday.

Large telecoms companies have been resistant to net neutrality 
legislation and clung to controversial provisions allowing specialised 
services and zero rating, which allows providers to offer certain apps 
or services for free as part of their packages.

European telecoms association ETNO said in a statement following the 
Parliament vote that services such as connected cars and e-health 
require “network management as well as differentiation of services".