Google, Apple and Facebook should be regulated like telecoms firms, says German watchdog

Email and messaging providers should provide the same standards of data protection, says Bundesnetzagentur

There could be trouble ahead for US technology firms operating in Europe and not just from GDPR lawsuits brought by the likes of Max Schrems.

The German telecoms regulator Bundesnetzagentur says that providers of messaging services and email should be regulated in the same way as telecoms companies since the difference between them is "very blurred".

"It cannot be right that a company providing traditional telecommunications services has to meet certain regulatory requirements, like those concerning data protection, while a company providing comparable services over the web does not," Jochen Homann, president of Bundesnetzagentur, told the FT.

Providers of telecoms services in Germany are subject to more stringent data protection and security laws than their web-based competitors. The regulator has been pursuing Google since 2014 in an attempt to make it register as a telecoms provider, something the US giant has refused to do. The case is currently with the European Court of Justice.

"Over-the-top (OTT) providers such as Amazon, Google and WhatsApp are increasingly competing with conventional telecommunications products. In this context, the Bundesnetzagentur is focusing on developing a regulatory framework which strikes a balance between the obligations of OTT service providers and conventional telecommunications service providers" the regulator says in its 2015 annual report.

Google is being seen as a test case. If successful, the regulator will also pursue other providers of messaging and email services such as Apple and Facebook in an attempt to unify the legal framework.

"We want these companies to meet the same regulatory requirements in principle as conventional telecommunications companies, for example when it comes to messaging services. Companies should be aware of the direction we are going in," Homann said.

Google has sought to drive a wedge between the Bundesnetzagentur and other telecoms regulators in Europe.

"The particular importance of this question arises from the potential consequences . . . for other communication services and from the impact on other EU member states," Google said, according to the FT.

"The Bundesnetzagentur is the only supervisory authority in Europe that . . . regards the registration of Gmail as a telecommunications service as necessary."