The European Commission prepares to give feedback from both sides before making a legislative proposal that could force tech companies to help pay for the roll-out of 5 G and fibre cables across the 27 country European Union.
The sector, which invests around 50 billion euro $48.5 billion annually in infrastructure needs more funding and needs more funding, the chief executives of the companies said in a statement.
The costs of planning and construction works are increasing. In the first semester of 2022, the prices for fibre optic cables have doubled. They said that the connectivity sector is also affected by the hikes in energy prices and the prices of other inputs.
Europe missed many of the opportunities offered by the consumer internet, so timely action is a must. The CEO said that it must build strength quickly for the age of the metaverses.
They believe that the largest traffic generators should contribute to the sizeable costs they currently impose on European networks for this to happen, and to be sustainable over time.
The statement is signed by Vodafone, Bouygues Telecom, KPN, BT Group, TIM Group, Telia Company, Fastweb and Altice Portugal.
Europe's telecoms operators argue that U.S. tech firms such as Alphabet's Google, Meta and Netflix account for more than half of internet traffic and should bear some of the cost of upgrading infrastructure.
Big Tech has rebuffed such requests, saying they are already investing in equipment and technologies to deliver content more efficiently.