European telcos urge EU to make big tech pay

The heads of European telecoms firms, including Orange and Vodafone, on Monday urged the EU to make tech and streaming giants pay for the massive amounts of bandwidth they use.

The idea is not new but has ignited a fierce debate.

Telecoms giants say that they need more money to maintain and update the infrastructure to meet Europe's voracious data needs, and that it would be fairer if firms like Netflix contributed towards the cost. But tech behemoths say telecoms companies already get money from customers, while digital rights activists fear making web giants pay would create a two-speed internet.


"Big tech companies pay today almost nothing for data transport in our networks, far from covering the costs needed to expand networks," a letter published by the European telecoms lobby group ETNO and signed by 20 CEOs said.

"A fair and proportionate contribution from the largest traffic generators towards the costs of network infrastructure should form the basis of a new approach," they said.