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from the double-triple-quad-penta-hexa-keep-on-dipping-money-pot dept.
Big Tech firms should pay ISPs to upgrade networks, telcos in Europe claim:
The CEOs of 13 large European telecom companies today called on tech giants—presumably including Netflix and other big US companies—to pay for a portion of the Internet service providers' network upgrade costs. In a "joint CEO statement," the European telcos described their proposal as a "renewed effort to rebalance the relationship between global technology giants and the European digital ecosystem."
The letter makes an argument similar to one that AT&T and other US-based ISPs have made at times over the past 15 years, that tech companies delivering content over the Internet get a "free" ride and should subsidize the cost of building last-mile networks that connect homes to broadband access. These arguments generally don't mention the fact that tech giants already pay for their own Internet bandwidth costs and that Netflix and others have built their own content-delivery networks to help deliver the traffic that home-Internet customers choose to receive.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by DannyB on Tuesday November 30 2021, @04:13PM
YES, THIS!
If the ISP isn't getting enough money because I use Big Tech, then CHARGE ME. I expect the ISP to be able to (1) build its infrastructure, (2) maintain it, and (3) make a reasonable profit. If they are not able to do all three, then they need to CHARGE ME more.
Netflix (and all Big Tech) already pay quite handsomely for their own end of the connection.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.