All over the world, the transition to 5G continues rapidly and infrastructure work continues. A draft noticed by Bloomberg the other day reveals that the European Union is preparing to take an important step in this regard.
According to the document, authorities are considering the proposal to provide financial support to the next generation internet infrastructure of companies with a lot of bandwidth, such as Netflix and Google’s parent company Alphabet.
Tech giants may have to pay for Europe’s 5G infrastructure
It should be noted that this idea, which asks companies to contribute to creating the necessary infrastructure, is not new. In 2012, a similar proposal came from Europe. Last year, European Commissioner Thierry Barton stated that Europe could lag behind the US and Asia in terms of 5G infrastructure, unless it is considered who has to pay what.
After all these, the newly released document revealed that the support of companies can be requested for the infrastructure. The proposals are part of the EU’s ‘fair sharing’ vision, which requires major tech giants that provide streaming video and other data-heavy services to contribute to paying for the traffic they generate, according to the report.
The document proposes that firms can contribute to a fund created to offset the cost of building 5G mobile networks and fiber infrastructure, as well as the creation of a mandatory direct payment system for tech giants.
Of course, it is worth noting that there is no concrete result yet. The EU’s electronic communications regulator said in October that there was no evidence to suggest that companies like Netflix and YouTube should pay for infrastructures, saying such a move could harm the internet ecosystem. The current document, on the other hand, revealed that the negotiations on this issue are continuing and a final decision will be made.
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