13 major telecoms in Europe want US tech majors to fund network costs
US tech giants are expected to bear part of the costs of developing European telecommunications networks because they use them so heavily, said CEOs of Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and 11 other major European telecommunications companies said Monday. Latest news about Europe network costs funding proposals find out below.
The CEO call comes as the telecommunications industry faces massive investments in 5G, fiber and cable networks to cope with data and cloud services provided by Netflix and Google, YouTube and Facebook.
Investments in the telecommunications sector in Europe reached 52.5 billion euros ($ 59.4 billion) last year, a six-year high.
“A large and growing portion of network traffic is generated and monetized by major technology platforms, but this requires continued and intensive network investment and planning by the telecommunications industry,” the CEOs said in a joint statement viewed by Reuters.
“This model – which allows EU citizens to reap the fruits of digital transformation – can only be sustainable if these large technology platforms also contribute equitably to the costs of the network,” they said.
CEOs haven’t mentioned any tech companies by name, but Reuters understands U.S.-listed giants like Netflix and Facebook are companies they have in mind.
Signatories to the letter include CEOs of Telefonica, Orange , KPN, BT Group, Telekom Austria, Vivacom, Proximus, Telenor, Altice Portugal, Telia Company and Swisscom.
CEOs have also criticized the high spectrum prices and auctions, used by European governments as cash cows, saying these artificially force unsustainable entrants into the market.
Attempts by EU lawmakers to remove surcharges on intra-EU calls have also been overlooked by CEOs who see the industry as a source of income for business users.
“We estimate that they would forcibly withdraw over € 2 billion in revenue from the sector over a 4-year period, which is equivalent to 2.5% of the sector’s annual investment capacity for mobile infrastructure,” the companies said.
EU lawmakers must discuss their proposal with EU countries before it can be adopted and may struggle to find a deal. europe network costs
