By decision of 26 June 2020, ANACOM approved the report on net neutrality, as regards application of articles 3 and 4 of Regulation (EU) 2015/2120https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1373317 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 (TSM Regulation), in the period between 1 May 2019 and 30 April 2020.
Pursuant to the TSM Regulation, national regulatory authorities (ARN) should publish annual reports on their control exercised in relation to the aforesaid articles and on the respective conclusions, for the ultimate purpose of assuring access to the open internet, submitting these reports to the European Commission (EC) and to the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC).
Throughout this period, ANACOM continued to analyse the zero-rating and similar offers, in order to assess any impacts on end-users, namely in terms of the rights established in number 1 of article 3 of the TSM Regulation. This analysis is thoroughly comprehensive and finely detailed, incident on the various zero-rating and similar offers, and, for this reason, is still ongoing.
The actions undertaken also included the initiatives promoted among the internet access service providers (PSAI) with strongest presence in the market, aimed at greater transparency in the assurance of access to the open internet. The communications sent by ANACOM to the PSAI, in May 2019, warning on their need to ensure compliance with the transparency measures, triggered adjustments by the PSAI in their contracts and websites. In general, these interactions enabled improving the level of transparency associated to the internet access services, especially in terms of speed indicators and their estimates, for fixed and mobile accesses, respectively.
A series of updates of the NET.mede tool were concluded at the beginning of 2020, both in terms of the NET.mede application and the “My NET.mede” reserved area. These updates enabled expanding the functionalities of the measurement tool and, at the same time, improve its usability.
Special reference should also be made to the cooperation actions established between ANACOM and other European and international regulatory entities, as well as the follow-up of other studies conducted by various national regulatory authorities around the challenges in the internet's ecosystem, namely in terms of operative systems and app stores. These initiatives enabled the exchange of experiences and reflection on various aspects related to the open internet.
The situation derived from the Covid-19 pandemic, taking effect from mid-March 2020, led ANACOM to strengthen its monitoring and adopt specific measures aimed at protecting the consumers. Cooperation, both at a European and national level, was also strengthened in this exceptional context.
The sending of this report to the EC and BEREC was also approved on the same date.
