Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

According to news in the morning of January 4, Beijing time, it is reported that the European Union is considering a plan to let the global technology giants, as major Internet users, pay for part of the broadband network costs of telecom operators. But on Tuesday, local time, an organization representing European Internet Service providers (ISP) said publicly that letting the tech giants pay would lead to "systemic flaws" in broadband network infrastructure. It is reported that this plan has triggered a backlash in the telecommunications industry.

For a long time, some European telecom operators have put pressure on the European Commission to enact relevant laws to make American technology giants such as Google, Meta, Netflix and other technology giants bear certain costs for European telecommunications networks, because these technology giants occupy a lot of bandwidth of broadband networks and are the main source of data traffic.

In September, Thierry Breton, the European Commission official in charge of industry affairs, said that before submitting formal legislative proposals, he planned to conduct a consultation with the broadband industry in early 2023 to discuss making tech giants bear some of the costs of telecoms networks.

The European Internet Exchange Association said in an open letter on Tuesday that the proposed charging model in the European Union could pose a risk of a decline in the quality of broadband services for Internet users in Europe. new systemic flaws may unexpectedly arise in the critical infrastructure of broadband networks. It is reported that the open letter has been submitted to the above-mentioned official Bretton, as well as the European Commission Executive Vice President Vestager (who is also in charge of market competition).

Bijal Sanghani, general manager of the Internet Exchange Association, said in the open letter that the Internet is a complex ecosystem, and the relevant decision-making bodies must bear the responsibility and consequences for the systemic consequences of some policy measures.

Sanhani said some EU lawmakers should not let administrative rules override the laws of technology services or the high-quality Internet services of European consumers.

It is reported that the proposal to let big customers of Internet companies bear part of the cost has caused some opposition in the European region. Opponents argue that the fee is tantamount to a "traffic tax" on tech giants, which could cause some social media platforms, including Facebook, to choose service routes outside the EU, bypassing European internet service providers.

This consequence will have a significant impact on Internet consumers in Europe. The content platforms of tech giants may sacrifice the quality of service and safety of European consumers in order to avoid traffic taxes. Another possibility is that the tech giants may eventually bear the traffic tax, but will pass the cost on to European broadband consumers.

Some opponents also point out that the plan to let technology companies bear the cost of the network will undermine the EU's position on network neutrality. According to the principle of network neutrality, all Internet service providers must be neutral to all traffic and must not discriminatively limit or limit the service traffic of certain companies.

In June last year, a digital rights alliance said that in the EU, the practice of traffic tax would undermine or conflict with the principle of network neutrality.

The alliance, which includes 34 NGOs from 17 countries and regions, said in an open letter that European telecom companies have received financial compensation from Internet consumers. They want to charge traffic fees again from technology companies, which is actually charging twice for the same service.

The European Commission has yet to comment on the latest opposition from the telecommunications industry.

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