The Meta platform on Thursday voiced its strongest criticism to date of EU telecom operators pushing Big Tech to pay extra network costs, saying this will not solve the financial problem. and also ignore the huge investments of technology companies.
Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica, Telecom Italia and other operators have been lobbying for two decades for the US tech giants to contribute to 5G and broadband deployment.
Operators say they account for more than half of all data internet traffic, Alphabet‘S Google, Apple, meta, Netflix, Amazon And Microsoft will contribute to billions of euros in infrastructure costs.
“We recognize the financial challenges that European telecom operators are currently facing after decades of strong performance,” said Kevin Salvadori, Meta’s vice president of networking, and Bruno Cendon Martin, director. and head of the wireless reality lab, said. Written in a blog post.
“However, the proposal of some European telecom operators to impose network fees on Content Application Providers (CAPs) such as Meta is not the solution,” they said.
“Network fee proposals are built on a false premise because they don’t realize the value CAP creates for the digital ecosystem, nor the investments we make in infrastructure. underpin it.”
Telecoms lobby group ETNO refuted Meta’s claims and pointed to the massive outlay needed in the coming years.
“Official figures show that EUR 174 billion (nearly Rs 15,54,000) is still needed to meet Europe’s network investment needs,” the spokesperson said.
“The tech giants will help fill this gap as their business relies heavily on traffic carried by European networks. The average metaverse user is expected to consume it. up to 40 times more data than today.”
Salvadori and Martin cited the tens of billions of euros that Meta invested in its apps and platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Quest, which in turn created a need to allow telecom operators to charge for their internet access. everybody.
Meta pointed to over $880 billion (nearly Rs 72,27,800) in digital infrastructure globally, including around $120 billion (nearly Rs 9,85,600) per year from 2018 to 2021, which Tech companies have come together to invest, saving telecom operators around $6 billion (nearly Rs 49,280) per year.
It refutes telecommunications providers’ argument that expanding the shared virtual world, the metaverse accessible over the internet, will reduce infrastructure capacity.
“But this is nonsense. The growth of metadata will not require telecom operators to increase capital expenditures for larger network investments,” Salvadori and Martin said.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
