Thanks to the StreamOn option, customers with a Telekom cell phone tariff have so far been able to use streaming services for as long as they like without using up their booked data volume. But after a ruling by the European Court of Justice, the Federal Network Agency has now declared the option to be inadmissible. It is therefore abolished.
According to the court, StreamOn violates net neutrality. It can therefore no longer be offered by Telekom – not even in existing tariffs. For customers, the decision means an enormous change, since the mobile phone tariffs lose significantly in added value with the discontinuation of StreamOn.
StreamOn is dropped without replacement
StreamOn is a free option that Telekom customers can add to their mobile phone contracts. Telekom has entered into a partnership with more than 280 streaming and multimedia services, including big names like Netflix, Disney+ and Spotify, but also Apple Music, Twitch and Instagram. Instead of consuming data volume to use the services, they run EU-wide at a flat rate. But this is exactly where the problem lies, as offers like StreamOn do not treat data traffic equally and thus violate net neutrality.
Telekom must therefore stop marketing the option by July 1, 2022. The option may be offered in existing tariffs until the end of March 2023 at the latest. Then she disappears without replacement. However, customers do not have a special right of termination due to the discontinuation of StreamOn, since this is only an additional option and not a fixed part of the contract. You continue to pay the same tariff price, but have to forego the option.
This is particularly bitter because Telekom’s mobile phone tariffs are not cheap. The smallest offer with an all-network flat rate for telephony and SMS as well as 6 GB of data costs EUR 39.95 a month for a term of 24 months. Although the 5G option is already included here, the offer is no longer really attractive without the StreamOn unique selling point. For comparison: Congstar has a tariff with 15 GB of data for 22 euros a month, Edeka Smart, for example, offers a tariff with 5 GB of data for just under 15 euros a month. Both providers operate in the Telekom network.
Also read: Consumer Center warns Telekom, Vodafone and O2
Are the tariffs becoming cheaper now?
On the other hand, the Federal Network Agency sees the discontinuation of StreamOn and similar options such as the Vodafone Pass as having a positive impact on the German mobile communications market. “We expect that the providers will now offer tariffs with higher data volumes or cheaper mobile flat rate tariffs. Consumers will benefit from this,” says Klaus Müller, President of the Federal Network Agency. It is questionable whether Telekom will really revise its tariffs after StreamOn is discontinued.