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

On February 27, the 2023 World Mobile Communications Congress (MWC) will kick off in Barcelona this week. At that time, who should bear more of the operating costs of network infrastructure will be the main discussion between large technology companies and EU telecom companies.

The MWC to be held in Barcelona from February 27 to March 2 will attract more than 80,000 participants, including executives of major technology companies, innovators and regulators.

Thierry Thierry Breton, the EU's industry chief, launched a 12-week consultation on the "fair sharing" proposal last Thursday. According to the proposal, large technology platforms need to bear more network infrastructure operating costs, that is, to pay "traffic fees" to telecom network operators.

Representatives of technology companies such as Alphabet, the parent company of Google, Meta, the parent of social media Facebook, and Netflix, the streaming service, will all use MWC as an opportunity to oppose the EU proposal.

Content providers such as Netflix have arranged for Greg Peters, its chief executive, to meet Mr Bretton at the show. They think the company has invested a lot of money in infrastructure.

Technology companies, including Netflix, say paying extra fees will reduce industry investment in products that benefit consumers.

By contrast, EU telecom operators such as Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica and Telecom Italia have been actively lobbying big technology companies to pay the fees.

The Global Association for Mobile Communications Systems (GSMA), the organisation behind MWC, which represents more than 750 mobile operators, has been at the forefront of this debate.

John John Giusti, chief regulatory officer of GSMA, said: "the discussion around 'fair sharing' or what we sometimes call the 'investment gap' will be a starting point."

Critics of the "fair sharing" proposal or the "sender pays network fee" (SPNP) model warn that a so-called "traffic tax" could lead content-driven platforms to provide services to users through internet service providers outside the EU.

Orange says the telecoms industry is not looking for special interests. A spokesman said the EU consultations were "the first positive sign" to start discussing the issue.

Operators said: "We advocate the establishment of a framework to promote fair and equal business relations, but also to recognize the direct impact of large technology companies on network costs."

However, Shahid Ahmed (Shahid Ahmed), executive vice president of NTT and adviser to the Federal Communications Commission, said the provisions were difficult to implement and enforce. "We have seen similar discussions in the US market," he said. "

At this year's MWC, many manufacturers will release new products. Other hot topics at the show included the lower-than-expected adoption of 5G and the potential uses of generative artificial intelligence systems such as OpenAI's ChatGPT.

"everything about MWC is about looking forward to the future," Justi said.

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