Swiss ICT companies confirm their commitment to the open Internet – asut adopts code of practice

Salt Mobile SA, Sunrise, Swisscom and upc cablecom, Switzerland’s leading network operators, as well as SUISSEDIGITAL, the trade association of Swiss communication networks, have revised their code of practice regarding net neutrality. The main premise remains: all customers have the right to use any online content, service or application on any hard- or software without limitations; freedom of information and the free expression of opinion will not be restricted, and no services or applications will be blocked. The Swiss Telecommunications Association asut has decided to also adopt the code.

By Armin Schädeli

The code of practice now specifies that services or applications may not be impeded. This ensures that no service is blocked, restricted or disadvantaged in any way.

The code renders things clearer and now also contains a newly exhaustive list of all permissible traffic management measures for quality assurance and for tailored offers. For example, when official rulings have to be put into effect, harmful activity must be able to be blocked or capacity bottlenecks bypassed. Traffic management measures are also permissible to ensure the quality of certain services, such as telephony, TV and videoconferencing (so-called managed services), to prioritise traffic on a user’s connection in accordance with their contract, or to apply contractually agreed usage limits and conditions. This list is reviewed regularly and updated according to technical and economic developments where necessary.

Additional transparency measures

In future, network operators must inform customers about traffic management measures and network faults.

If customers suspect that their network provider may be breaching the code of practice, they can still call the ombudsman’s office (see www.s-nn.ch(opens in new tab)). The ombudsman’s office will examine the case and mediate between users and service providers.

With this, the leading network operators are again confirming their commitment to an open and innovative Internet.

Downloads

Code of conduct Net Neutrality(opens in new tab)

Press release(opens in new tab)