EU to probe online data traffic management

Regulators are to launch the first pan-European investigation into telecoms companies’ controversial data traffic management practices, in an attempt to safeguard network neutrality principles.

European regulators will scrutinize whether fixed-line phone and mobile operators are giving consumers enough information about their traffic management policies, which can slow down customers’ Internet connections. The European Commission accepts some traffic management is necessary to avoid congestion on operators’ networks. Operators are dealing with an explosion of data traffic, partly because of bandwidth-hungry video services, such as Google’s YouTube and the BBC iPlayer. But Neelie Kroes, the European commissioner responsible for the EU digital agenda, is on April 19 expected to announce the regulatory investigation and warn it could result in new rules to safeguard net neutrality.