EU big tech and telecom operators in a conflict over net neutrality rules

The industry chief for the European Union, Thierry Breton, has said that he will not be taking sides in a clash between big tech companies and telecom operators in Europe. The two factions have been conflicted over who needs to fund the 5G and broadband rollout.

EU big tech and telecom operators clash

Breton was speaking at the Mobile World Congress, defending a 12-week consultation period released last week. The consultation period will require big tech companies to cover most costs. The other participants in this event include the CEO of Telefonica, Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete, and the CEO of Orange, Christel Heydemann.

Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica, and Telecom Italia want big tech to shoulder the fees. Telefonica’s Alvarez-Palette noted that working together meant that each party needed to contribute their fair share.

Orange’s Heydemann said consulting with the EU was the first step toward addressing an “unbalanced situation.”  She also clarified that she did not want to change the neutral opposition taken by Europe, nor was she advocating for a new tax mechanism. Instead, she advocated for “a new European framework which would bring a fair contribution of large online traffic generators to connectivity requirements.”

Debate on net neutrality rules

On Monday, the Dutch government warned against having an internet toll on tech companies. The country became the first within the EU to criticize the stance taken by Breton on the matter. The Dutch government said this move could breach the net neutrality rules and result in price hikes across Europe.

Streaming platform Netflix had argued that content provider companies were already heavily invested in infrastructure. These companies have argued that additional fees will steer investment away from the products that benefit consumers.

GSMA, an organization representing over 750 mobile operators, said the discussion was not about neutrality. “We are not prioritizing. We are not throttling,” said the GSMA director, Mats Granryd, adding that there was no case for the tabled arguments about net neutrality.

There is much criticism about the Sending Party Network Pays (SPNP) model. These critics have argued that the “traffic tax” could result in content-driven platforms routing their services using internet service providers (ISPs) outside the EU.

The director of Internet Society, David Frautschy, commented on this development saying that the new guidelines violate the net neutrality provisions and would also fragment the internet, affecting European consumers and economies. Frautschy added that the stakes were too high to allow telecom operators to have their way.

Nevertheless, there are admissions that regulations would be challenging to implement and enforce. Besides discussions about 5GT funding, the Mobile World Congress will also see several product launches from top tech firms such as Huawei, HMD Global, Honor, RealMe and Xiaomi.

The other matters that will be addressed in this congress include the adoption rate of the 5G network, alongside the potential use of generative AI systems including the ChatGPT chatbot created by OpenAI.