While this “fair share” plan has failed to gain traction, tech giants are not completely off the hook. The Commission paper calls for “a regulatory level playing field and equivalent rights and obligations for all actors and end-users of digital networks.”
“We need the same rules for all players,” Breton said.
The white paper cited as examples of players facing few obligations the large cloud providers, which allow traffic to transit on mostly private, “largely unregulated” networks, and “providers of number-independent interpersonal communications service” like Facebook’s Messenger and WhatsApp.
“We hope this white paper turns the page on the rejected and damaging idea of network fees once and for all,” Daniel Friedlaender, the head of Big tech lobby group CCIA, said. “Europe needs to support the connectivity sector as a whole, not prop up a few companies unwilling to compete fairly.”
The Commission offered to explore more practical solutions to green telecom networks, with more efficient compression techniques or a deadline for copper switch-off, and to harmonize spectrum management, which accounts for a significant hit to operators’ wallets.
The EU executive also issued a new recommendation, urging EU governments to pull together to guard cable networks after a spate of sabotage. POLITICO previously reported on the plan.
The telecoms proposals are now open for public feedback until June. Ultimately, they could then feed into work on a Digital Networks Act that the Commission could pick up in its next term starting later this year.
A previous version of this article misstated the day Margrethe Vestager spoke to reporters. It was Wednesday.
