EC clears telecoms groups of ‘throttling’ services of rivals

Deutsche Telekom, Orange and Telefónica have been cleared by regulators of “throttling” the services of rivals -- avoiding a potentially bruising competition case.

In 2013, European Union officials raided the offices of the three telecoms groups over allegations that they were deliberately limiting access to data-heavy services, such as YouTube and Skype. But, on Oct 3, the European Commission said that, following a review, the practices of the telecoms companies “do not appear to breach EU antitrust law with a view to shutting out competitors from either the internet transit market or internet content markets.”