Large internet companies have received support from the European umbrella organization of telecom regulators, BEREC, in their fight against the ‘network tax’ that European telecom operators are attempting to impose on them, according to Reuters.
Telecom giants such as Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica, and Telecom Italia are pushing for large platform providers, such as Google, Apple, Meta, Netflix, Amazon, and Microsoft, to pay more to these operators, especially since these companies account for almost half of the network traffic on the telecom networks. The extra money would then be used by the telecom companies to invest more in renewing and expanding their fixed internet and 5G infrastructure.
BEREC Opposes Operators’ Plan
According to BEREC, the institution of a mandatory additional contribution from the EU to the development of the infrastructure of these telcos by Big tech companies is undesirable, Reuters reports.
The European telecom operators would not be affected by the large tech companies at the moment and end users also have no disadvantage for their IP connections. In addition, an extra transfer fee would contribute little to the development of the internet infrastructure in the Member States to achieve the European targets.
Violates Net Neutrality
Furthermore, such a contribution would favor large telecom operators, particularly those with their own streaming and/or cloud services, as they could be favored, violating the mandatory EU net neutrality. Smaller operators would also be at a greater disadvantage, as they are active in a ‘lower’ economic environment and have less negotiating power. Additionally, an extra fee could lead to less investment by the Big Tech providers.
