The European Union has secured agreement on a telecoms bill to boost consumer rights, competition and fuel investment in the €300 billion a year sector.

Agreement had been held up by the resistance of European lawmakers to EU member states such as France, the UK and the Netherlands wanting to be able to cut off Internet access to users suspected of illegally downloading files.

In the end it was agreed that Internet users suspected of activities such as child pornography or illegal film downloading cannot have their Internet access cut off without a prior fair hearing.