Alphabet’s Google on Monday rejected an effort by European telecoms operators to get the company to help fund network costs, saying it was a 10-year-old idea and bad for consumers and the company had already invests millions in internet infrastructure.
The comments by Matt Brittin, president of Europe, Middle East and Asia business and operations at Google, come as the European Commission seeks answers from the telecommunications and technology industries on the matter before making a legislative proposal.
Big telcos complain about tech rivals, saying they use much of the internet’s traffic and must contribute financially.
The idea, launched more than 10 years ago, could disrupt European net neutrality or open access to the internet, Brittin said.
“Introducing a ‘sender pays’ principle is not a new idea and could overturn many of the principles of the open internet,” he said in the text of a speech to be read at a conference organized by the telecommunications group ETNO.
“It could have a negative impact on consumers, especially at a time of rising prices,” Brittin said, citing a report by the pan-European consumer group BEUC outlining these concerns.
According to him, Google is doing its part to make the internet more efficient for telecommunications companies, carrying traffic 99% of the way and investing millions of euros.
“In 2021, we invested more than €23 billion, much of it in infrastructure,” Brittin said, adding that this includes six large data centers in Europe, global undersea cables and caches to store content on local networks.
Source: CNN Brasil
Joe Jameson, a technology journalist with over 2 years of experience, writes for top online news websites. Specializing in the field of technology, Joe provides insights into the latest advancements in the industry. Currently, he contributes to covering the world stock market.
