The European telecoms regulators’ group, BEREC, has cautioned the European Commission against endorsing legislation proposed by the telecoms sector that seeks financial assistance from Big Tech for the implementation of 5G and broadband networks. BEREC argues that there is no evidence of a competition issue or market failure in this regard.
In its response to the European Commission’s investigation into the matter, The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) highlighted the significant clash between Big Tech and major telecoms operators in Europe.
BEREC stated, “There is no evidence of a competition problem or a market failure to the detriment of end-users regarding IP-interconnection.” The group expressed doubts about imposing mandatory network fees on companies, echoing the arguments put forth by Big Tech.
According to BEREC, imposing such mandatory payments from content and application providers (CAPs) to internet service providers (ISPs) may not lead to member states achieving their connectivity targets. On the contrary, it is likely that ISPs in areas already well-supplied with connectivity would benefit the most.
Furthermore, BEREC warned that smaller telecoms operators with limited economies of scale and bargaining power could be disadvantaged by a mandatory fee. It also pointed to the potential for discrimination and unfair promotion of telecoms’ own streaming or cloud services at the expense of others.
BEREC argued that such fees could result in increased prices for consumers, discourage Big Tech from making investments, and breach EU net neutrality regulations.
Telecoms giants Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica, and Telecom Italia have been lobbying for Big Tech companies to share the burden of network costs. However, Alphabet, Apple, Meta Platforms, Netflix, Amazon, and Microsoft, which together account for over half of internet data traffic according to telcos, have rejected the proposal.
