Telecommunications, this is what the European sector demands

The European telecommunications sector has come together to demand a fair contribution from the large digital platforms to the networks. In this way, the European and national associations AOMR, APMS, AssoTelecomunicazioni, ATI, DigitalES, ETNO, Fédération Française des Télécoms and GSMA Europe have issued the following statement:

Our Associations represent the companies that provide ultra-fast digital connectivity to European citizens in all Member States. We are proud of the EU’s Internet ecosystem, the vibrant community of ICT companies that populate it, and the hard work that telcos big and small do, every day, to reach every European home.

We are committed to working tirelessly to achieve the ambitious goals of the EU Digital Decade, which include the deployment of “gigabit connectivity for everyone and 5G everywhere by 2030”.

In addition, our companies are proactively working to support the EU Green Deal goals, which require full digitization to achieve net-zero emissions. These goals are essential to empowering our societies, boosting our national economies and underpinning the dual green-digital transition.

European Telecommunications Sector

European telecommunications operators are strongly committed to achieving these goals, but their full and speedy achievement in all 27 Member States requires that responsibility be shared collectively by the entire digital ecosystem.

In this context, we strongly support the EU Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles for the Digital Decade, which calls for the establishment of relevant frameworks to ensure a “fair and proportionate contribution” from all actors.

The European telecommunications sector demands a fair contribution from the large digital platforms

Similarly, we support the public debate launched by Vice President Margrethe Vestager and Commissioner Thierry Breton in May 2022 for an open discussion on whether all players currently contribute fairly to the development of digital network infrastructures.

Our Associations call on European legislators to promote swift political intervention and to help ensure that Big Tech contributes fairly and equitably to the growth of the EU Internet ecosystem, especially in the context of continued increases in data traffic. .

All European network operators investing in gigabit networks, regardless of whether they are alternative or traditional, small or large, should be able to count on a fair and proportionate contribution from the big tech companies to the network costs they generate with their traffic.

Such action can, and must, be achieved in full respect of the European Open Internet principles. It will undoubtedly greatly benefit users through network upgrades, strengthening the Internet infrastructure, and fully supporting unrestricted access to all legal content and applications on the Internet.

Therefore, we call on EU governments and policy makers to stand firm in supporting and advancing the principle of “fair and proportionate contribution”, convinced that it will be essential to maintain and grow the Internet ecosystem of the European Union. EU.