Draft BEREC Report on IP-Interconnection practices in the Context of Net Neutrality
In 2012 BEREC published the report “An assessment of IP interconnection in the context of Net Neutrality” which had concluded that the Internet ecosystem managed to adapt IP interconnection arrangement to reflect changes in technology, in the (relative) market power of players, in demand patterns and in business models, all this happening without a need for regulatory intervention.
In November 2016 BEREC held the 3rd expert workshop in IP-interconnection in co-operation with the OECD – bringing together members of academia, market experts and participants as well as public authorities including European NRAs, the FCC, the Mexican Regulator as well as DG Competition. The insights gained at the workshop have informed the current project. The report is now updated and puts these findings to the test considering the developments having occurred since 2012. Empirical evidence shows that many developments observed in 2012 are still valid: Internet traffic volumes continue to increase - mainly driven by video streaming services. Prices for transit or CDN services are still declining.
BEREC considers that the price decline for transit services indicates that the market is highly competitive but at the same time put under pressure, both from peering services as well as CDN services. Costs of delivering data packets (on a per unit basis) continue to decline. Other findings and conclusions are available in the draft report which will be in public consultation. The public consultation will run from 7 June till 5 July 2017.