European Telcos Push for 'Fair Share' Law

Large traffic generators must be legally required to pay network costs, 20 European telcos said Monday. European Telecommunications Network Operators Association and GSM Association CEOs jointly urged policymakers to enact "fair share" legislation, revise spectrum policy and accept "the need for scale to avoid market fragmentation" to ensure the EU meets its 2030 Digital Decade targets. "The key to this debate is investment," the companies said. The EU estimated at least $184 billion of new investment is needed by 2030 to achieve connectivity targets, but the telecom sector "is currently not strong enough to meet that demand." At the same time, they wrote, data traffic has mushroomed at an average rate of 20%-30% per year, driven primarily by "just a handful of large tech companies." That growth is expected to continue, but under current conditions it won't result in a corresponding return on investment, they said. Retail prices for telecom services have fallen over the past 10 years, costs increased and new technologies will create even more demand on underlying network infrastructure, they wrote. Operators want legislation that follows "a well-defined and targeted scope addressing only the very largest traffic generators, while excluding smaller content and application providers." Signers included executives from BT Group, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Vodafone and Telefonica. Their letter was criticized by the Computer & Communications Industry Association, whose members include large content providers such as Meta and Google. "Big telcos are not asking for a 'fair contribution,'" emailed CCIA Europe Head of Office Daniel Friedlaender. Instead, the incumbents have "grown thanks to exciting content and services developed by creative and tech firms, which telcos often bundle to drive consumer interest in fibre or 5G subscriptions." Friedlander accused operators of trying to "fool Europe into providing them with extra cash" by having their networks fully subsidized by the companies that have helped them grow and thrive.