CarderPlanet
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What price will it cost Europe to deploy 5G networks and who will pay?
The management of 20 telecommunications companies, including BT, Deutsche Telekom and Telefónica, sent an open letter to the European Commission and members of the European Parliament. They believe that companies like Google and Netflix, which actively use telecommunications infrastructure and help increase traffic, should make a greater financial contribution to the development and support of this infrastructure.
"Future investments are under serious pressure and regulatory measures are needed to protect them,"the letter, which is available to the Financial Times (FT), says." A fair and proportionate contribution of the largest traffic producers to network infrastructure costs should form the basis of a new approach."
European telecom companies insist that regulators need to take action and ensure future investment in networks, as they themselves will have to spend billions of euros to deploy 5G networks.
The idea of a "fair distribution initiative"is gaining popularity in Europe. In June, the European Parliament proposed creating a system where the main traffic generators would make a "fair contribution" to the financing of telecommunications networks. The European Commission estimates that an additional investment of almost 200 billion euros is needed to reach the planned targets for 5G and gigabit speeds across the entire European Union by 2030.
Representatives of European telecom groups note that annual data growth is 20% - 30%, mainly due to the activity of several large IT companies. Most likely, this growth will continue, but in the current conditions IT is unlikely to lead to an increase in investment from IT giants. The letter claims that at present, large technology corporations "pay almost nothing for data transmission on our networks."
However, Daniel Friedlander, who represents the tech industry as head of CCIA Europe, disagrees. He said: "Telecoms companies want their networks to be fully subsidised by the same firms that have helped them grow and thrive. Ultimately, these telecom giants want to force European consumers to pay a second time through network fees in addition to their subscription."
The management of 20 telecommunications companies, including BT, Deutsche Telekom and Telefónica, sent an open letter to the European Commission and members of the European Parliament. They believe that companies like Google and Netflix, which actively use telecommunications infrastructure and help increase traffic, should make a greater financial contribution to the development and support of this infrastructure.
"Future investments are under serious pressure and regulatory measures are needed to protect them,"the letter, which is available to the Financial Times (FT), says." A fair and proportionate contribution of the largest traffic producers to network infrastructure costs should form the basis of a new approach."
European telecom companies insist that regulators need to take action and ensure future investment in networks, as they themselves will have to spend billions of euros to deploy 5G networks.
The idea of a "fair distribution initiative"is gaining popularity in Europe. In June, the European Parliament proposed creating a system where the main traffic generators would make a "fair contribution" to the financing of telecommunications networks. The European Commission estimates that an additional investment of almost 200 billion euros is needed to reach the planned targets for 5G and gigabit speeds across the entire European Union by 2030.
Representatives of European telecom groups note that annual data growth is 20% - 30%, mainly due to the activity of several large IT companies. Most likely, this growth will continue, but in the current conditions IT is unlikely to lead to an increase in investment from IT giants. The letter claims that at present, large technology corporations "pay almost nothing for data transmission on our networks."
However, Daniel Friedlander, who represents the tech industry as head of CCIA Europe, disagrees. He said: "Telecoms companies want their networks to be fully subsidised by the same firms that have helped them grow and thrive. Ultimately, these telecom giants want to force European consumers to pay a second time through network fees in addition to their subscription."
