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Telecoms ministers from 18 countries either rejected or
criticised the proposed network fee levy on tech firms at a
meeting with EU industry chief Thierry Breton in Luxembourg on
Thursday, the sources said.
That echoed comments made last month by EU telecoms regulators'
group BEREC.
Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica and Telecom Italia want Big
Tech to shoulder part of the network costs and have found a
receptive ear in the European Commission's industry chief
Breton, a former chief executive of France Telecom and French IT
consulting firm Atos.
Alphabet Inc's Google, Apple Inc, Meta Platforms Inc, Netflix
Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp have rejected the idea of
a levy, saying that they invest in the digital ecosystem.
The ministers cited the lack of an analysis on the effects of a
network levy, the absence of an investment gap and the risk of
Big Tech passing on the extra cost to consumers in the form of
higher prices, the people said.
They also warned about the potential violation of EU net
neutrality rules which require all users to be treated equally,
barriers to innovation, and a lower quality of products.
The critics included Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic,
Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, Malta and the
Netherlands, the people said.
Cyprus, France, Greece, Hungary and Italy backed the idea while
Poland, Portugal and Romania either took a neutral stance or had
not adopted a position, they said.
Breton is expected to issue a report by the end of June with a
summary of feedback provided by Big Tech, telecoms providers and
others which will indicate his next steps.
Any legislative proposal needs to be negotiated with EU
countries and EU lawmakers before it can become law.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
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