European Commission Executive’s proposal for big Tech to pay Telecom companies is on hold

Seven countries sent a joint letter to the European Commission in order to be cautious of its measures to force internet companies to pay for upgrades to telecom firms’ infrastructure.

The European Commission’s Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager and Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said that they are observing whether streaming platforms such as Netflix Inc. Google and YouTube can let the telecom providers bear the cost of the infrastructure that they use.

Previously this proposal was raised by the CEOs of 13 large European telecom companies in November 2021. In a joint statement, the European telcos described their proposal as a “renewed effort to rebalance the relationship between global technology giants and the European digital ecosystem.”

According to the telco companies, the big tech companies such as Netflix and YouTube should subsidize the cost instead of getting a “free ride” for delivering content. However, the proposal doesn’t mention that the big tech companies have their own content-delivery networks and already pay their internet bandwidth costs.

However, as of yet, no formal proposal has been made and the lawmakers didn’t clarify if there will be any in near future. The idea has already stirred the tech companies, net neutrality advocates, lawmakers, and now members of states at an alarming rate.

Reportedly, countries such as Germany, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, and the Netherlands stated that there should be an “open and transparent debate” before presenting the idea formally. Members of the European Parliament have also written a letter to the commission expressing their “deep concern” over the issue.

However, the commission hasn’t gotten any final analysis from the EU telecom regulating body and is advised to wait till further notice.