Press Release: The Universal Service Directive does not lay down a social pricing obligation for mobile communications and mobile Internet subscriptions

Report on the Judgment in Case C-1/14. Base Company NV and Mobistar NV v Ministerraad.

In this judgment, the Court holds that the Universal Service Directive expressly imposes an obligation on the Member States to ensure the connection at a fixed location to a public communications network. However, the term ‘at a fixed location’ means the opposite of the term ‘mobile’.

However, social tariffs must be offered to certain categories of consumers for fixed telephone and Internet subscriptions.

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