EU's plan to force tech firms contribute to build telecoms infrastructure would 'undermine' net neutrality, activists warn
Such proposals have already been rejected by governments, lawmakers, and regulators across the world, they argue
A group of digital rights advocates and civil society organisations has warned the European Commission that any move by the bloc to force major technology firms to pay towards the cost of developing fixed and mobile networks would jeopardise the principles that underpin an open Internet.
The comments came in an open letter [pdf] to European Commission digital head Margrethe Vestager and EU industry chief Thierry Breton from 34 NGOs from 17 countries, including European Digital Rights, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Civil Liberties Union for Europe, and ARTICLE 19.
The groups expressed alarm over Vestager's statements last month, in which she hinted that Big Tech corporations should be required to contribute to the cost of telecommunications infrastructure, something that telecoms operators have been lobbying for a long time.
The letter was organised by epicenter.works of Austria.
The EU has long advocated for net neutrality laws to ensure that all data transmitted over the internet is treated equally. These laws prohibit service providers from giving certain applications additional priority over other traffic, and from charging content providers additional fees for preferential treatment.
Last month, though, Europe's digital chief Margrethe Vestager hinted at a policy change that would require Big Tech companies to pay towards the cost of creating 5G and fibre infrastructure.
Telecom operators have frequently voiced their annoyance at the fact that companies like Google, Netflix, and others have profited from investments in fibre and cellular infrastructure, while operators are required to ensure there is enough capacity to satisfy demand.
According to the letter, the Commissioner's plan to charge content and application providers for the use of internet infrastructure violates the European Union's fundamental net neutrality principles and regulations.
The net neutrality advocates added that such proposals have been thoroughly debated over the past 10 years, and they have always been rejected by governments, lawmakers, and regulators across Europe and the rest of the world.
"Today, nothing has changed to legitimise the sacrifice of the free and open internet to satisfy the interests of the telecom industry," they added.
They drew parallels between such a move and the effort made by the Trump administration in the United States to abolish provisions for internet neutrality.
The letter asserts that because of advancements in networking technology, the cost of establishing and managing network infrastructure has greatly decreased. This has enabled internet service providers (ISPs) to construct more and faster broadband infrastructure at much reduced rates.
"Thus, the economic and technical conditions at present weigh even more strongly against the introduction of such fees than during prior debates," the letter says.
It concludes that the law protecting net neutrality enable people in Europe to use the bandwidth that they purchase from their ISPs in any way that they choose - whether for large websites like Netflix and Facebook, or for smaller, more local websites and services.
"Thus, European telecom companies are already compensated by their own internet service customers for transporting this data over their access networks; they simply want to be paid twice for the same service," it added.