Written by Nick Wood for Telecoms.com
The majority of European lawmakers appear to be unconvinced by the idea of charging content companies for the traffic they generate.
According to a Reuters report, EU telecoms ministers met to discuss the matter with internal market commissioner Thierry Breton. Sources cited by the newswire claim that 18 of them rejected a proposal to levy a network fee on so-called CAPs (content and application providers), or demanded further investigation into it.
This news isn’t wholly surprising, given it comes not long after Germany’s digital minister, Volker Wissing, told local news outlet Welt that he could see no justification for introducing fair contribution. His Netherlands-based counterpart shared a similar position in February.
Nonetheless, that so many telco ministers are singing from the same hymn sheet is an unwelcome development for telcos and industry groups ETNO and the GSMA. They have all stepped up their lobbying during the EU’s consultation, called “the future of the electronic communications sector and its infrastructure.” It closed in late May and includes a section on fair contribution.
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