MNOs in the EU can explore service-specific data pricing despite regulators’ intervention on zero-rating

"European Union rules allow operators to segment the data market along service-specific lines, which potentially averts the path to unlimited data plans."

The approach taken by BEREC (The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications) to zero-rating enforces some minor boundaries, but leaves mobile network operators (MNOs) with a great deal of flexibility, particularly for app-specific zero-rating (albeit within the limit of an active data allowance). This comment analyses AGCOM and other national regulatory authorities' (NRAs') approaches to zero-rated services and the effects that these regulations have on operators' mobile commercial strategies.