Google claims that customer shared network charges are a terrible idea

A group of more than a dozen European telecoms firms, including Orange, Telefonica, BT, and Deutsche Telekom, have renewed their calls to make Big Tech pay for a share of network costs. CEOs from these companies joined forces to release a joint statement calling for more investment from tech firms.

This effort came as the European Commission prepared to consult with big tech companies and telecom companies before submitting a legislative proposal that might compel big tech companies to pay for 5G and fibre optic lines across the European Union.

“A fair contribution would benefit first and foremost consumers, as it would help enable faster and more inclusive roll-out, bringing more coverage, resilience, and quality. It would also benefit SMEs, who recently voiced the need for tech companies to ‘adequately contribute’ to roll-out 5G and fibre are key to SMEs ‘competitiveness’, a part of the statement reads.

In response to the telecom company’s claims, Google asserts that the sender pays principle would nullify the idea of net neutrality. The search company also said that in 2021, capital expenditures were more than 23 billion euros, with a sizable share going toward infrastructure.

“These arguments are similar to those we heard 10 or more years ago and we have not seen new data that changes the situation”, Matt Brittin, president of EMEA business and operations at Google states.

In recent years, Google has built data centres across Europe, 20 subsea cables across the world and much more caches in the region. The European Commission will now consider the arguments put forward by both sides and decide what legislative proposal, if any, should be implemented to level the investment playing field.