Telcos draw up proposal for charging Big Tech for EU 5G rollout

Technology companies which account for more than 5% of a telecoms provider's peak average internet traffic should help pay for the rollout of 5G and broadband across Europe, according to a draft proposal by the telecoms industry.

The proposal is part of feedback to the European Commission which launched a consultation into the issue in February. The deadline for responses is Friday.

The document, which was reviewed by Reuters and has not been published, was compiled by lobbying groups GSMA and ETNO.


Their members include Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica, Telecom Italia and Vodafone.

Telecom operators have lobbied for years for leading technology companies to contribute to funding 5G and broadband roll-out, saying that they use a huge part of the region's internet traffic.

Alphabet's Google, Apple, Meta, Netflix, Amazon and Microsoft account for more than half of data internet traffic.

"We propose a clear threshold to ensure that only large traffic generators, who impact substantially on operators' networks, fall within the scope," GSMA said.

"Large traffic generators would only be those companies that account for more than 5% of an operator's yearly average busy hour traffic measured at the individual network level," the draft said.