The District Court of Rotterdam rejected an appeal from a digital rights association.
Background: T-Mobile has offered zero-rating on music streaming services to customers of their top-tier data plans (6GB/month or more). The offer was initially stopped by the regulator ACM (December 2016) but a decision of the Rotterdam District Court restored its validity in April 2017. Digital rights association Bits Of Freedom (BOF) requested the ACM to intervene again, but the regulator refused to do so in October 2017.
What’s new? The District Court of Rotterdam has now heard BOF’s appeal and decided it is unfounded. The Court found the offer not to restrict choice for customers and for service providers, and that the economic incentive to use zero-rated streaming services is limited due to the size of the data allowances. Also, the Court disagrees that the conditions for services to join the offer are onerous, and that the ACM’s investigation was inadequate.
Next steps: the ACM notes it is still possible to file an appeal in this case. However, the judgment marks a pretty clear victory for T-Mobile, which can continue to market its zero-rated offer.
