Offering Zero-rated Content in the Shadow of Net Neutrality

a modified version of the paper is forthcoming in “Market and Competition Law Review”

13 Pages Posted: 17 Feb 2021 Last revised: 8 May 2021

See all articles by Giuseppe Colangelo

Giuseppe Colangelo

Università degli Studi della Basilicata; Stanford Law School; LUISS Guido Carli, Department of Business and Management; International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE)

Valerio Torti

European University Institute

Date Written: December 16, 2020

Abstract

In the recent Telenor case, the EU Court of Justice has for the first time interpreted the relationship between net neutrality regulation and zero-rating offers, considering net neutrality regulation incompatible with the offer of packages in which data traffic generated by certain applications does not count towards the consumption of the data volume purchased and whereby, once that data volume has been used up, end-users may continue to use those applications without restriction, while other applications are blocked or slowed. However, despite their incompatibility with the net neutrality principle of non-discrimination, zero-rating offers may provide benefits to consumers, fostering broadband consumption and promoting product differentiation, without necessarily leading to the exclusion of content providers. Therefore, a revision of the net neutrality regulation is needed in order to assess this practice in accordance with an ex post case-by-case investigation.

Keywords: Zero-rating; sponsored data; net neutrality; regulation; antitrust

JEL Classification: K20, L40, L43, L96, L98

Suggested Citation

Colangelo, Giuseppe and Torti, Valerio, Offering Zero-rated Content in the Shadow of Net Neutrality (December 16, 2020). a modified version of the paper is forthcoming in “Market and Competition Law Review”, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3749914 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3749914

Giuseppe Colangelo

Università degli Studi della Basilicata ( email )

Via dell'Ateneo Lucano 10
Potenza
Italy

HOME PAGE: http://sites.google.com/site/giuseppecolangelouni/home

Stanford Law School ( email )

559 Nathan Abbott Way
Stanford, CA 94305-8610
United States

HOME PAGE: http://law.stanford.edu/transatlantic-technology-law-forum/

LUISS Guido Carli, Department of Business and Management ( email )

Viale Romania 32
Rome, Roma 00197
Italy

International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) ( email )

5005 SW Meadows Rd.
Suite 300
Lake Oswego, OR 97035
United States

Valerio Torti (Contact Author)

European University Institute ( email )

Florence, 00100
Italy

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