news/GOOG/2023.02.14/EU's Breton plans consultation on Big Tech and telecoms network costs.txt

STRASBOURG, Feb 14 (Reuters) - EU industry chief Thierry
Breton is poised to launch a consultation on whether Big Tech
should bear some telecoms network costs, he said on Tuesday
ahead of a telecoms conference taking place in Barcelona from
Feb. 27 to March 2.EU telecoms providers including Deutsche Telekom,
Orange, Telefonica and Telecom Italia
have for years sought to have Big Tech foot some
infrastructure cost for 5G and broadband.The telecoms companies say the six largest content providers
- Meta, Amazon.com Inc, Netflix Inc,
Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp and Alphabet Inc's
Google - account for more than half of data internet
traffic.The tech giants say the idea amounts to an internet traffic
tax that could undermine Europe's net neutrality rules to ensure
all users are treated equally.Asked when the consultation would be launched, Breton told
Reuters: "Wait for my speech at Barcelona. Yes, I will announce
it soon. At Barcelona."The consultation is likely to take about 12 weeks before the
European Commission will propose legislation that will need to
be thrashed out by EU countries and EU lawmakers before it can
become law.Breton said he was confident the process could be wrapped up
by the end of the year. "We will have time, yes," he said.Announcing the start of the consultation at Barcelona is a
strong signal to the telecoms sector of Breton's backing, a
telecoms industry source said. It would be Breton's first
appearance at an event traditionally attended by all major
telecoms operators.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee
Editing by David Goodman)