EU wants to hit big tech and streamers with 5G building bill

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With the rise of video streaming services such as Netflix and YouTube, the amount of bandwidth required for common Internet tasks has skyrocketed, forcing infrastructure providers to offer more to Internet service providers and other entities. It is However, the cost of upgrades may be borne by large companies such as Apple in the future.

The European Union is weighing proposals to persuade the biggest bandwidth consumers to pay for next-generation Internet infrastructure. bloomberg read.

Seen as a “fair share” vision from the EU, the proposal would require the largest consumers of bandwidth to pay for the infrastructure costs necessary for data-heavy services to work first. . This includes costs to deploy 5G networks and fiber infrastructure, for example.

It is also possible that mandatory payment systems will be put in place, with funds from technology companies going directly to carriers.

The proposal is currently only a draft and the EU is in consultation with industry on the issue. This includes determining whether there is a threshold for determining whether a company is a “massive traffic generator” and therefore responsible for contributing funds.

But even at this early stage there has been pushback from the EU itself on the issue. The European Union’s electronic communications regulator ruled in October that there was “no evidence” that services like Netflix should pay carriers to invest in infrastructure upgrades.

While such schemes are most beneficial to European countries, companies based outside the region are also expected to benefit from the arrangement. not necessarily.

Using pooled funds and compulsory payments for companies with higher usage requirements could also help avoid some net neutrality issues.

The consultation period is expected to last another two to three months.