5G network in Europe: do giants like Google and Facebook have to contribute?

CEOs of Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and 11 other major European telecommunications companies said that US tech giants are expected to bear part of the costs of developing European telecommunications networks given that they use them continuously and frequently. The telecommunications industry is in fact facing massive investments in 5G, fiber and cable networks to cope with the data and cloud services provided by Netflix, Google, YouTube and Facebook.

5G network: European companies ask for support from Google, Facebook and Netflix

Investments in the telecommunications sector in Europe rose to 52.5 billion euros ($ 59.4 billion) last year, an unprecedented peak from the past six years. “A large and growing portion of network traffic is generated and monetized by large technology platforms, but it requires continuous and intensive planning and investment from the telecommunications sector,” the CEOs said in a joint statement on Monday.

“This model, which allows EU citizens to enjoy the fruits of digital transformation, can only be sustainable if these large technology platforms contribute equitably to network costs,” the statement read. The CEOs they didn’t mention any specific company, but the reference to the major players in the sector is clear.

Among the signatories of the letter we find the CEOs of Telefonica (TEF.MC), Orange (ORAN.PA), KPN (KPN.AS), BT Group (BT.L), Telekom Austria (TELA.VI), Vivacom, Proximus ( PROX .BR), Telenor (TEL.OL), Altice Portugal, Telia Company (TELIA.ST) and Swisscom (SCMN.S). At the moment there is no news of apossible answer by the American giants, and it is not even clear if one will actually arrive.

In any case, it remains to be understood whether the European legislator will decide to please the telephone operators of the Old Continent or not, given that the final decision is left to this body.