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Do telcos in US/Europe create the same incumbency that telcos in Latin America create? Here in Mexico, any mobile data package comes with free data for blessed

Do telcos in US/Europe create the same incumbency that telcos in Latin America create? Here in Mexico, any mobile data package comes with free data for blessed services like Whatsapp and FB Messenger. Obviously trying to compete with each other on these perks. Using a competitor like Telegram is a complete nonstarter when trading memes or video chat eats into your data. The cheapest plan from Telcel (pay-as-you-go + holding 20 pesos in your balance) lets you use Whatsapp infinitely. GG to competition.

oblio 6y ago
They do the same thing here, yes. But if the EU decides to legislate against FB, for example, I doubt they'll be that silly, they'll probably shoot these clauses down.
jeltz 6y ago
In Sweden they do not do that for messenger clients but they do it for video streaming sites. Data is so cheap here that a messenger would not be a good selling point. It is probably illegal (on the paper we have net neutrality, the telcos just blatantly break the law) to do so in Sweden which why some telcos are in a legal battle with our regulatory authority.
- hombre_fatal 6y ago
  Heh, my cable TV provider in Mexico came with a remote control with a fat "Netflix" button on it for easy access. While useful to people, most of whom want to just go to Netflix, that level of integration doesn't feel right.
- robin_reala 6y ago
  It’s not illegal if you get user consent. I signed up (in Sweden) for a mobile contract with free Apple Music data last year, and they made a big thing of getting consent for them to do DPI to get that.
  - jorvi 6y ago
    It’s actually somewhat of a grey area due to net neutrality regulations. Those are EU-wide, but up to the local regulation authority to interpret, which means that a regulator in Portugal or Sweden says it’s cool, in The Netherlands that any music service (sadly not your own Plex) can apply to be delimited, and in yet another EU country it might be completely illegal.

oblio 6y ago

They do the same thing here, yes. But if the EU decides to legislate against FB, for example, I doubt they'll be that silly, they'll probably shoot these clauses down.

jeltz 6y ago

In Sweden they do not do that for messenger clients but they do it for video streaming sites. Data is so cheap here that a messenger would not be a good selling point. It is probably illegal (on the paper we have net neutrality, the telcos just blatantly break the law) to do so in Sweden which why some telcos are in a legal battle with our regulatory authority.

hombre_fatal 6y ago
Heh, my cable TV provider in Mexico came with a remote control with a fat "Netflix" button on it for easy access. While useful to people, most of whom want to just go to Netflix, that level of integration doesn't feel right.
robin_reala 6y ago
It’s not illegal if you get user consent. I signed up (in Sweden) for a mobile contract with free Apple Music data last year, and they made a big thing of getting consent for them to do DPI to get that.
- jorvi 6y ago
  It’s actually somewhat of a grey area due to net neutrality regulations. Those are EU-wide, but up to the local regulation authority to interpret, which means that a regulator in Portugal or Sweden says it’s cool, in The Netherlands that any music service (sadly not your own Plex) can apply to be delimited, and in yet another EU country it might be completely illegal.