Vodafone considers legal route against Germany’s regulator over zero rating

Vodafone could launch a legal challenge against Germany’s national telecoms regulator Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA), which wants the operator to extend a zero-rated offer in the country to the whole of the EU in line with roaming regulations, reports Mobile World Live. “A Vodafone Germany representative told Broadband TV News that enabling roaming subscribers to use Vodafone Pass would be economically unviable because doing so would ‘cause unpredictable costs’ for roaming partners which would be passed on to Vodafone.” “We are currently considering legal action against this order,” the representative added. Germany’s watchdog said Vodafone Pass should be available to customers when they are travelling in the EU under the same conditions as when they are in Germany. “Vodafone Pass can still be booked, but adjustments are required for use in the EU. We make sure that Vodafone Pass can be used like at home when travelling,” BNetzA’s president Jochen Homann said in a statement. The regulator also wants the operator to increase a 5 GB limit it imposes on customer data usage while roaming. It said Vodafone was “generally permitted” to limit data use, but in this case it finds the amount insufficient. BNetzA said it hopes Vodafone will keep its streaming policy in line with the outcome of current court proceedings relating to Deutsche Telekom’s StreamOn service – in December 2017, Deutsche Telekom vowed to launch a legal battle against a similar demand from the regulator to expand StreamOn to customers roaming in the EU. Read more

• Monday, 25 June 2018