Big Tech Will get Assist From EU Regulators Towards Telcos’ Community Charge Push

EU telecoms regulators’ group BEREC on Friday warned the European Commission towards proposing laws pushed by the sector to get Big Tech‘s assist to pay for the rollout of 5G and broadband, saying it didn’t see a contest drawback or a market failure.

The feedback from The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) to the European Commission which is now wanting into the difficulty underscores the high-stakes battle between Big Tech and Europe’s main telecoms operators.

“There is no evidence of a competition problem or a market failure to the detriment of end-users regarding IP-interconnection,” the group mentioned.

Echoing Big Tech’s arguments, BEREC mentioned it has its doubts a couple of obligatory community payment levied on the businesses.

“It is questionable that mandatory payments from CAPs (content and application providers) to ISPs (internet service providers) would lead to member states meeting the connectivity targets,” BEREC mentioned.

“On the contrary, it is rather likely that ISPs in already well supplied areas would benefit the most.”

It mentioned a compulsory payment could drawback smaller telecoms operators with much less economies of scale and bargaining energy, whereas different telecoms corporations with their very own streaming or cloud providers could discriminate and unfairly promote these providers.

Such a payment can also result in value hikes for shoppers, disincentivise Big Tech from investments and breach EU internet neutrality guidelines, BEREC mentioned.

Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica and Telecom Italia have been lobbying for Big Tech to shoulder among the community prices.

Alphabet‘s Google, Apple, Meta Platforms, Netflix, Amazon.com and Microsoft, which telcos say account for greater than half of information web site visitors, have rejected the proposal.

© Thomson Reuters 2023