The European Commission will block network operators from charging content providers extra for delivering their content, a senior official has warned.
Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes said protecting freedom of expression and maintaining open networks were essential principles in establishing fair competition for ISPs and content providers, and would help keep the Internet neutral.
In a speech to French regulator Arcep, Kroes said promoting competition among network operators is “the best way to avoid bottlenecks and monopolistic gatekeepers, thereby ensuring net neutrality.”
She added that EC policy would seek to prevent discrimination against content providers like YouTube and Yahoo.
“Every player on the value chain should be free to fairly position themselves to offer the best possible service to their customers or end users,” Kroes said. “Any commercial or traffic management practice that does not follow objective and even-handed criteria, applicable to all comparable services, is potentially discriminatory in character.”
The comments follow a call early this week from Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, and Telefonica for Google to share its YouTube advertising revenues.