Dutch regulator rules that T-Mobile's “zero rating” music streaming service is illegal; T-Mobile says it will appeal, will offer service until court verdict
Diana Goovaerts / Wireless Week :
Context & Ripple Effects
This ruling lands at the start of a multi-year regulatory arc against zero rating in Europe. T-Mobile had already drawn net-neutrality criticism stateside over Binge On, its zero-rated video service, which critics argued favored affiliated traffic even while lowering consumers' bills.
First-order effects
- T-Mobile must keep funding the music-streaming giveaway through an appeals process it may lose, while Dutch subscribers keep receiving free streaming data until a court verdict forces a change.
Second-order effects
- Rival operators' similar zero-tariff bundles across the EU now face a template challenge: Germany's court later struck down Deutsche Telekom's StreamOn plan under the same net-neutrality framework, showing the Dutch ruling was not an outlier.
Third-order effects
- If courts keep siding with regulators, the EU market converges on flat-rate data pricing without sponsored-data carve-outs — a structural split from the US model T-Mobile popularized, confirmed when the EU court ruled Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom's zero-tariff offers violate roaming and net-neutrality rules.
The trend: European regulators and courts are dismantling zero-rating offers one operator at a time, forcing carriers to compete on price and speed rather than sponsored content.