Swedish media has reacted angrily to a ‘zero-rating’ campaign by Telia and Facebook that allows internet users to surf social media sites without it impacting on any allowance. In this instance, Facebook.
Representatives of 27 newspapers, TV and radio stations have signed the statement that has appeared in the Swedish press.
The Swedish telecommunications regulator PTS has also launched an investigation.
“We can assume that more and more telecom operators will put zero rating offers in place around Europe (many countries already have them). If the open internet falls, we might wake up in a world with a cable-TV-internet ever more under control of the largest global players – media companies and telcos,” said Jimmy Ahlstrand, director of strategy, SVT.
The move by the Swedish telco comes just a few days before the introduction of new net neutrality legislation by the European Commission. The signatories are concerned that if introduced the new legislation will be deemed ineffective.
