Tensions between European telecommunications companies and US tech giants have escalated as the heads of former press regulators press the latter to contribute to the cost of building the Internet backbone. Telecommunications groups from the Old Continent claim that the internet giants have built and consolidated their operations with multi-billion dollar infrastructure investments made first. titans like Google, Netflix, Meta, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft generate almost half of all data traffic in Internet Today. Telecommunications companies, for their part, feel they should pay a “fair share” given the disproportionate needs of their infrastructure while also helping fund the development of 5G networks and next-generation fiber. This is reported by CNBC in a publication.

The European Commission launched a consultation process in February exploring possible ways to address this imbalance. Officials in Brussels are questioning and waiting for similar positions on whether the tech giants should be required to contribute directly to infrastructure, though they believe that would amount to an “internet tax” that would possibly undermine its neutrality. “Without telecommunications, without the Internet, there is no Netflix, no Google,” Michael Trumpia, director of technology and innovation at Orange France, told CNBC. “Therefore, as bands, we are absolutely essential, we are the entry point to the digital world.” At the latest Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, ​​Tim Haetges, CEO of the German telecommunications group Deutsche Telekom, presented the audience with a visualization of the scale of the market capitalization of various industry players.

This chart was dominated by the US giants. Addressing the audience, Hetges asked them why these companies cannot “contribute at least a little bit to the efforts and infrastructure we are building here in Europe.” Howard Watson, BT’s chief technology officer, asked: “Can we work on a two-way model where the customer pays the provider and the content provider also pays the operator?” Finally, Mr. Watson drew a parallel with the Google and Apple app stores, which charge developers a share of their app sales in exchange for using their services.