EU digital veep: If you like America's radical idea of net neutrality, you're in luck, Europe

Re: Zero rating of services

Mobile data will be virtually unlimited by then in the UK.

A good example of a zero rated service!

The example used in the article, namely: "a mobile network could say music streamed from Spotify doesn't count against a subscriber's monthly download limit" is interesting.

Firstly, for this to be a truly neutral provision of service, the provision needs to apply to all streaming music services, not just Spotify. However, if the network provides me with a range of tariffs and add-on's of which one is "unlimited Spotify" (which may or may not have a price attached, but critically the subscriber has to opt-in) then I suggest it does satisfy the criteria for net neutrality.

Re: Zero rating of services

Mobile data will be virtually unlimited by then in the UK.

I will be surprised if that is the case. Quotas may be many times what they are now but there will still be (new data-heavy) services which push them to their limits. Although I would agree that audio will not be one of them.

I think the much bigger impact on net neutrality will come from ubiquitous operator CDNs (caching, run by the operator, physically in major polulation centres to reduce transmission capacity needs). All the major services will be on the CDNs -- because that is the only feasible way to run a network when video is 90% of the traffic (but still to be determined who pays!). How is a new entrant going to manage? Can it get on the CDNs? Both cost and perfomance will suffer significantly if not.

But it is not at all clear how to create a level playing field once we have ubiquitous operator CDNs. That is a much more challenging problem in the medium term than zero-rating.

[AC as I work in the telecoms industry and I would not want anyone to misinterpret my personal views as my employer's views, on this very divisive topic]