The bosses of Europe's biggest telecoms operators including BT, Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom have called for tech firms such as Netflix and Amazon to pay for some of the soaring costs of data fuelled by the global streaming and internet boom.
The European Commission is about to launch a consultation on whether tech companies such as Google, Facebook, Netflix and Microsoft should be made to pay some of the soaring costs for the huge amount of global internet traffic they carry on their telecoms networks.
According to ETNO, more than half of the world's internet traffic is taken from six Silicon Valley companies Google, Facebook, Netflix, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft. When gaming giants such as Activision Blizzard are included, the proportion rises to as much as 80%.
The streaming of shows, such as Netflix hit Bridgerton and Amazon's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, is a major driver of the growth in data usage, based on the works of JRR Tolkien.
The telecoms chiefs said in a joint statement that the largest traffic generators should make a fair contribution to the sizeable costs they currently impose on European networks. A fair contribution would send a clear financial signal to streamers about the data growth associated with their use of scarce network resources. European telecoms companies spend €50 billion 44.5 billion dollars annually on building and maintaining full-fibre broadband and 5 G networks, according to the statement.
The cost of fibre optic cables has doubled in price this year, adding to the financial burden.
The issue of ensuring a sustainable ecosystem for the internet and connectivity is more urgent than ever, according to the companies. Europe missed many of the opportunities offered by the consumer internet. It must quickly build strength for the age of the metaverses. Streaming and internet companies say they do pay for their content through huge investment in systems that reduce costs for telecoms companies.
The network of data servers that allow content to be delivered close to telecoms operators networks, shortening the distance data then travels and cost to consumers, with the Silicon Valley companies footing the bill for transit charges last year, said Matt Brittin, the president of EMEA business and operations at Google.
He said that introducing a sender pays principle is not a new idea and would upend many of the principles of the open internet. These arguments are similar to those we heard 10 or more years ago and we have not seen new data that changes the situation. Google's investment includes six large data centres in Europe, 20 subsea cables globally, including five in Europe, and caches to store digital content locally in 20 locations in Europe.
The telecoms companies argue that rules that stop them from passing on some of the costs to the biggest drivers of net neutrality rules that stipulate that all internet traffic is treated equally would continue to be upheld.
They said that they are respectful and fully supportive of the need to uphold the EU open internet principles. Consumers must continue to enjoy the legal content and applications available on the internet.