Telecom giants in Europe demand higher payments from Google and Netflix

A group of 20 telecommunication companies, including BT, Deutsche Telekom, and Telefónica, has sent an open letter to the European Commission and deputies of the European Parliament, as reported by the Financial Times (FT).

The letter argues that companies like Google and Netflix, who heavily use telecommunication infrastructure and contribute to the increase in traffic, should make a larger financial contribution to the development and support of this infrastructure.

“Future investments are under serious pressure, and regulatory measures are needed to protect them,” states the letter. “The fair and proportional contribution of the largest traffic manufacturers to the costs of network infrastructure should lie at the basis of the new approach.”

European telecom companies are urging regulators to take action and provide future investments in the network, as they will need to spend billions of euros to deploy 5G networks.

The concept of a “fair distribution initiative” is gaining traction in Europe. In June, the European Parliament proposed a system where the main traffic generators would make a “fair contribution” to financing telecommunication networks. The European Commission estimates that nearly €200 billion in additional investments will be needed by 2030 to achieve the planned 5G coverage and gigabit speeds across the European Union.

Representatives of European telecom groups highlight that annual data growth is between 20% and 30%, primarily driven by the activity of a few large IT companies. However, under current conditions, it is unlikely that this growth will lead to an increase in investment from these IT giants. The letter asserts that these technological corporations “are paid almost nothing to transmit data on our networks.”