A Regulatory Assessment of GO Plc’s zero-rating offers GO TV Anywhere, GO TV Anywhere Lite and GO Music Wild Card

The Malta Communications Authority (MCA) has conducted an investigation of GO’s zero-rated offers, namely the “GO Music WildCard”, “GO TVAnywhere” and “GO TVAnywhere Lite” in view of Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 commonly known as the Net Neutrality Regulation. This regulation establishes the common rules to safeguard equal treatment of traffic when providing an Internet Access Services and the related end-user rights in terms of their freedom to access and transmit content of their choice amongst others. In accordance with Article 6 of the Regulation and with its powers under the Malta Communications Authority Act (Cap. 418 of the Laws of Malta), the MCA as the designated competent authority responsible in ensuring compliance with the aforesaid rules, has undertaken the investigation outlined in this document. During the course of this investigation, the guidelines published by the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) intended to provide an extensive interpretation toolkit of the Regulation and a tool box to be used by NRAs when assessing various market offers and conditions in relation to different aspects of this Regulation were also taken into account. Following detailed analysis as outlined in the decision paper, the MCA determines that GO’s offers can be allowed in line with the BEREC Guidelines and the Regulation when taking into account various elements during market assessment . The MCA also notes that market dynamics could change and this situation could be reviewed again in the future. In this regard, the MCA will be requesting GO to provide it with quarterly statistics related to all products to allow the MCA to closely monitor market developments. In the case of the Music Wild Card offer, the MCA recommends that action is taken by GO to widen the choice of applications which are eligible to the Wild Card Offer.