Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE), Orange (ORAN.PA), Telefonica (TEF.MC), and 13 other European telecom operators jointly requested Big tech companies share network costs, citing the energy crisis and EU climate change targets.
The call comes as the European Commission prepares to seek feedback from both sides before putting forward a legislative proposal that could force tech companies to help pay for the rollout of 5G and fiber-optic cables in the 27 EU countries.
According to reports, the CEOs of the two companies said in a statement that the industry invests about 50 billion euros (about 345.5 billion yuan) in infrastructure every year and needs more money, and the need is very urgent. “The cost of planning and construction works is increasing. For example, the price of fiber optic cables almost doubled in the first half of 2022. Likewise, rising energy prices and other input prices have hit the networking industry.”
Timely action is required. Europe has missed out on many of the opportunities offered by the consumer internet, and it must now quickly build power for the Metaverse. To achieve this, and be sustainable over time, we believe that the largest traffic generators should make a fair contribution to the huge costs they currently impose on European networks.
Other signatories to the statement include Vodafone (VOD.L), Bouygues Telecom (BOUY.PA), KPN (KPN.AS), British Telecom Group (BT.L), TIM Group, Telia Company (TELIA.ST), Fastweb (SCMNSF).UL) and Altice Portugal.
European telecom operators believe U.S. tech companies such as Alphabet-owned Google, Meta and Netflix, which account for more than half of internet traffic , should bear some of the cost of upgrading infrastructure.
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