Kroes: leave your mobile provider if they block Skype

Mobile phone users whose operators block Skype should switch provider, European commissioner Neelie Kroes has suggested.

Kroes was speaking at a European Commission and European Parliament summit on the issue of net neutrality on Thursday. She noted that operators' commercially-driven blockage of the popular VoIP application was "the obvious example" of what net neutrality supporters fear, but that "consumers should not underestimate their own power in shaping this situation".

"There were 21 million people using Skype alongside me when I called my family at the weekend," Kroes said. "That is a huge market. And I say to those people who are currently cut off from Skype: vote with your feet and leave your mobile provider. The message will be most powerful when it comes from both the bottom-up and the top-down."

Kroes was illustrating the thrust of her speech, that "any content or application that is legal and which does not cause undue congestion or otherwise harm other users or network integrity should be fully accessible", but that Europe has to "avoid regulation which might deter investment and an efficient use of the available resources".

"We should allow network operators and services and content providers to explore innovative business models, leading to a more efficient use of the networks and creating new business opportunities at different levels of the Internet value chain," Kroes said.