The European Parliament has voted to stop internet providers from charging for preferential access to their networks, a step cheered by consumer groups but bemoaned by the telecommunications industry.

The bill on "net neutrality" will force internet providers to treat all traffic the same, regardless of its source. That will prevent major telecom and internet providers such as Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom from reserving the best of their network for their own services, or selling the lions' share of bandwidth to big companies like Google and Netflix, while leaving a slower internet for everyone else.

The aim of the reform is to foster a so-called "single market" for telecom services across the region, while spurring big operators like France's Orange and Britain's Vodafone to invest more in networks.

"This is what the EU is all about - getting rid of barriers to make life easier and less expensive. We should know what we are buying, we should not be ripped off, and we should have the opportunity to change our mind," said Neelie Kroes, the European commissioner for digital affairs.

The package could still change after getting Parliament's backing because it must be approved by the Council of the European Union, which includes representatives of each member state. The Council is expected to make a decision in October.

Telecommunications companies, on the other hand, warned of dire consequences if net neutrality is enacted in all European countries. So far, only the Netherlands and Slovakia have adopted strong national net neutrality legislation.

"Europe's telecoms operators are facing decreasing revenues compared with operators in the U.S. and Asia," said the GSM Association, an industry group for mobile phone companies. In a statement signed by director Anne Bouverot, the group said European laws are "impairing their ability to invest in the infrastructure required to put Europe back on the path to growth and jobs."

ETNO an industry group of European telecommunications network operators, whose members include Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica and Telecom Italia, said the parliamentary vote was a step in the wrong direction.

"Today's vote risks derailing the original objectives of the Connected Continent Regulation, namely a strong European digital industry igniting growth and jobs creation," ETNO head Luigi Gambardella said.

Robin Bienenstock, an analyst at Bernstein Research, said the Parliament package was negative for telecoms companies, but that it remained to be seen how the final law would turn out.