They express the view that Google, Netflix and others profit most from the network, while paying very little. — Bloomberg
FRANKFURT: European telecommunications groups are calling for major technological companies pay more for the use of their networks, according to a report on Monday (Oct 2).
Citing a letter from the heads of 20 European telecoms companies, the Financial Times newspaper said that they were aiming for a fairer and more appropriate contribution from the largest generators of traffic to paying the costs of the network structure.
The signatories to the letter to the European Commission in Brussels and members of the European Parliament include the chief executives of Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, Telia and the BT Group.
They express the view that Google, Netflix and others profit most from the network, while paying very little.
As counterexample they point to providers of cloud services who charge customers for transmitting data. The newspaper said that while the demand was not new, time was pressing ahead of EU elections next year.
The company chiefs said that data traffic from a few tech companies had risen by up to 30% over recent years and predicted that this pattern would continue without a corresponding return on capital.
They also noted the investments needed to offer 5G mobile telephony to all populated EU regions by 2030, estimated by the commission to cost €200bil (RM992bil). – dpa
