An unlimited subscription should include a higher monthly data volume, according to the Belgian Institute for Postal Services and Telecommunications (BIPT). To that end, the telecom regulator is publishing new guidelines that push the minimum limit higher for both fixed and mobile Internet.
Telecom operators must offer more data in their unlimited Internet bundles, according to new guidelines from the BIPT. These bundles give customers a certain data volume of Internet at high speed, after which the Internet speed is drastically reduced or the customer no longer has access to the Internet.
Especially for mobile Internet, the BIPT notes that users run into the limit of the “unlimited” subscription too quickly. Therefore, the new limit will be 300 GB per month. Currently, an unlimited subscription offers between 20 GB and 40 GB.
For fixed Internet, BIPT uses the limit of a monthly data volume of 3 TB. Previously, the term “unlimited” indicated a data volume between 500 GB and 3 TB. Telecom operators are given six months to translate these guidelines into practice.
Decision after study
The regulator set the new minimum limit with the idea that the term “unlimited” should serve subscriptions for which the vast majority of customers continue to surf without restriction.
BIPT found that the current “unlimited” bundles are insufficient, following a study. Telecom operators use a reasonable use clause, or Fair Use Policy (FUP), for the bundles, which guarantees that a person with normal data usage is not short of anything.
In practice, BIPT found that customers exceed the data volume too often. “A more in-depth investigation by BIPT has shown that while for fixed Internet generally less than two percent of customers exceed the data volume of the FUP, for the majority of mobile products (whether or not as part of a bundle) the FUP limit is exceeded by more than ten percent of customers.”
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