Brussels opens the door for large technology companies to co-finance high-speed internet

Telecommunications companies and large digital platforms look to Brussels today.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
24 February 2023 Friday 15:54
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Brussels opens the door for large technology companies to co-finance high-speed internet

Telecommunications companies and large digital platforms look to Brussels today. The European Commission has announced the launch of a long-awaited exploratory consultation to consult the sector on how to promote the deployment of 5G networks and open up possible financial contributions to their development, a kind of toll for using them, given their high data consumption. The formulation of the questions with which the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, launches a public consultation to the sector denotes an opening towards the idea that large digital platforms such as Alphabet (Google, YouTube), Meta (Facebook), Netflix , Twitter, TikTok or Amazon assume part of the cost of the infrastructures they use and pay a contribution to European technology companies.

"We are facing major technological transformations, an increase in the cost of raw materials and a geopolitical context that requires paying attention to our sovereignty" and, at the same time, at a time of strong pressure on public finances, Breton explained. "This situation leads us to consider the question of a fair distribution of contributions to finance the deployment of the next generation of connectivity infrastructures" while allowing "the spirit of competition, which is the engine of innovation, to prevail". The consultation, he has assured, does not go "against" anyone but in "favor of the consumer", Breton has insisted.

Breton has denied that the European Commission has decided what its conclusion will be but has assured that it is not considering creating a new tribute to technology companies through the back door. Regarding the question of whether he thinks of a temporary or permanent contribution, he has been open: "All options are on the table" but "first let's take advantage of these 12 weeks" to delve into the issues and ensure that all the actors involved have the same vision on "what type of infrastructures are necessary" and then they will talk about how to finance them. The commissioner has promised to present his conclusions before the summer, in time, he assures, to carry out possible complementary measures throughout this legislature. "We hope this consultation is as broad as possible and we invite all those affected to respond, because this is very valuable to us and we want to involve all those who have a role to play."

The consultation, explains the community executive, "is part of an open dialogue with all the actors on the possible need for all those who benefit from the digital transformation to contribute fairly to infrastructure investments." The key is what is meant by "fair contribution." This, the Commission admits, "is a complex issue that requires an in-depth analysis of the facts and figures before deciding on the need to adopt new measures" but always with the commitment to maintain "the internet open and neutral". In addition to this issue, Brussels raises issues such as the fairness of services for consumers, barriers to the internal market, technological developments and changes in the digital market.

The big European telecommunications companies, Telefónica among them, maintain that it is unfair that they dedicate billions of euros a year to improve the networks so that they keep up with the increase in traffic while a few content providers use them without contributing to their development. and they also take an important part of the income. Digital platforms disagree. They assure that they already contribute to the maintenance of the networks in other ways and warn that if they have to pay a fee for their use, this would increase the cost for users to access the Internet and could reduce the quality and security of the service.

Their respective lobbies have been asserting their positions in the community capital and before national governments for months. The telcos welcome the consultation opened today by Brussels but it is not, for now, a legal proposal, just a way to listen to all parties and form an opinion with a view to the possible presentation of proposals. The margin for them to get ahead in this legislature is slim: the holding of elections to the European Parliament in the spring of 2024 will put a stop to the legislative activity of the EU, which will not be resumed until 2025, when the new executive has already been formed. community.

For the moment, today the European Commission has presented a legislative proposal, the gigabit infrastructure law, with measures to make the deployment of 5G networks "faster, cheaper and more efficient", which is intended to be achieved through the reduction of administrative costs and license times, among other measures, a regulation that is called to replace the directive on the reduction of broadband costs of 2014 and other legislation with a quarter of a century of life that has not prevented Network deployment time continues to vary enormously from one country to another.

Brussels has also approved today a recommendation for national governments to encourage these measures and their adaptation to different geographical circumstances, with price flexibility policies and guidelines on replacing copper networks with fiber networks.