France, Italy and Spain call on EC to make big tech contribute to network costs

A joint effort from legislators in France, Italy and Spain will apply pressure on the European Commission to make big tech firms like Google and Netflix contribute towards European infrastructure costs.

The trio of nations have put together a joint paper (via Reuters) which argues that the six largest content providers online account for 55% of all internet traffic. It calls on them, along with European telcos, to “contribute to digital infrastructure costs”.

The document said: “This generates specific costs for European telecom operators in terms of capacity, at a time they are already hugely investing in the most costly parts of the networks with 5G and Fiber-To-The-Home.”

In light of fears from activists that forcing operators to shoulder network costs would lead to prioritisation of certain services, the document argued that any legislation should” ensure fairness between users in accordance with the net neutrality rules, which is a core principle we absolutely need to preserve.”

Reuters reports that the details were confirmed by two Italian government officials, with one saying that the country’s government is set to give informal support ahead of next month’s general election.