In our last article we discussed how most large telco companies in the EU suggested that Big Tech should finance the 5G rollout in Europe.
The telcos behind this suggestion are Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica and Telecom Italia, who suggested that Big Tech should cover part of the network costs. Their reasoning is that their data and content makes up a large part of network traffic.
During a meeting with EU industry chief Thierry Breton in Luxembourg last week, telecoms ministers from 18 countries either rejected the proposed network fee levy on tech firms or demanded a study into the need and impact of such a measure. Out of the 18 countries, 10 backed the idea.
Google, Apple, Meta Platforms, Netflix, Amazon.com and Microsoft all rejected the idea of a co-funding as they are already investing heavily in the digital ecosystem.
The European telecom ministers reasoned that there’s no proper analysis on the long-term effects such a levy would cause, for example, Big Tech passing on the extra cost to consumers. However, one could argue that the same would apply if Telecom Providers were to pay the entire cost.
A report is expected to be issued by the end of June with a summary of feedback provided by Big Tech, telecoms providers and others, and based on this, EU industry chief Thierry Breton will decide what the next steps will be.
From the look of things thus far it’s not looking positive for the telco companies…
