EU regulators group oppose big tech giants from paying for telco infrastructure

The telecommunications industry says that tech giants should pay for a "fair share" of telecom infrastructure

A group of European telecom regulators opposed the idea of big tech firms such as Netflix and Google paying for telecommunications infrastructure. The findings were made by the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC). The findings come at a time when the European Commission is debating whether internet platforms should be obliged to fund digital infrastructure such as 5G telecoms networks, given they make heavy use of it. Their conclusions say that "BEREC has found no evidence that such (a direct compensation) method is justified given the current state of the market.”

The telecommunications industry argues that Netflix, Google Amazon, Meta, Apple and Microsoft should pay for a "fair share" of telecom infrastructure as their services make up more than half of the internet traffic .However, digital rights groups fear that if the big tech firms fund infrastructure, they will also strike deals with telecom firms to give their own traffic preferential treatment, undermining the principle of net neutrality.