EU telecom companies call on large technology companies to share network costs

On Monday, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica and 13 other European telecom operators called on large technology companies to share network costs, citing the energy crisis and EU climate change goals.

The EU is also preparing to seek feedback from both sides on a legislative proposal that could force tech companies to help pay for laying 5G and fibre-optic cables across the bloc's 27 member states.

It is reported that the industry invests about 50 billion euros (about 345.5 billion yuan) in infrastructure every year, the capital demand is very urgent, the cost of planning and construction projects is increasing, for example, the price of optical cable almost doubled in the first half of 2022.

Europe missed out on many of the opportunities offered by the consumer internet, and it must now quickly build its strength for the meta-universe era, industry says. European telecom operators argue that U.S. tech companies such as Google, Meta and Netflix account for more than half of Internet traffic and should bear part of the cost of upgrading infrastructure.

Big tech companies have resisted such requests, saying they are already investing in equipment and technology to deliver content more efficiently.