The legislative arm of the European Union is reportedly drafting a questionnaire for network operators
The European Commission (EC) wants telcos to provide evidence that streaming service firms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney +, YouTube and others should have to contribute to the cost of carrying their traffic.
According to Bloomberg, it is drawing up a questionnaire for network operators to establish proof of how the volume of streaming traffic has increased since 2019 and to determine the cost to telcos of carrying it
Bloomberg says it has seen a draft of the questionnaire, which includes asking streaming companies to “describe their relationships” with operators and service providers in an attempt to see if there are “market failure” in the sector.
Reports on reports
In May, Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice President of the European Commission for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age, said that she was considering imposing capex contributions from the handful of streaming giants that collectively generate most of the traffic on operators’ networks. This was in the wake of a controversial report from ETNO, Europe’s internet ecosystem: socio-economic benefits of a fairer balance between tech giants and telecom operators, which, among others, was criticised by 34 human rights organisations.
The EU has returned to the vexed issue of how and if regulations could be put in place that requires streaming companies to pay a “fair share” of the costs incurred by the telcos the cost of constantly being obliged to increase network capacity, including the massive investment in 5G. The idea is any monies levied on the streaming giants would be reinvested in infrastructure.
However, until now the EU has backed away from taking such steps because of the thorny issue of net neutrality – the notion that all traffic should be treated the same, regardless of its origin, to avoid discrimination and suppression.
Differences of opinion
In the meantime, various European countries have developed, or are in the process of developing, their own thinking. Germany and The Netherlands want the EC to wait until publication of a report by BEREC (The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications) which is expected to analyse the state of the market and propose solutions.
In contrast, France and Italy want the EC to draft a proposal immediately to make the streaming companies pay towards the cost of carrying their content.
They will be disappointed: the European Commission is not expected to have reached conclusions from the questionnaires it proposes to send out before early 2023, and most likely it will be even later.