Deutsche Telecom and other large telecommunications’ companies have urged the EU’s European Commission to make large online platforms share the burden of expensive investments into network capacity infrastructure, Belgian news portal EurActiv reports.
In an open letter to the EU executive the heads of Spain’s Telefónica, Germany’s Deutsche Telekom, Britain’s Vodafone and France’s Orange explained that they had had to make large investments to upgrade the capacity of their networks during the Covid-19 pandemic as internet traffic rose significantly amid lockdowns.
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«Continued investment is fundamental to ensuring the unrestricted access and participation of citizens in our digital society,» the group of CEOs wrote. «But the current situation is simply not sustainable. The investment burden must be shared in a more proportionate way.»
The telecommunications businesses have calculated that that social media, video streaming and gaming take up than 70% of traffic. These e-commerce services are owned by a handful of hyper-scalers that manage to reap enormous profits. The large telecommunications operators argued that they are left to cover the cost for connectivity, while their profits have been steadily decreasing, EurActiv reports.
European large telecoms push for involving online platforms in infrastructure development
