In Europe, the battle between U.S. Big Tech companies and telecommunications firms has reached fever pitch. Telecom groups are pushing European regulators to consider implementing a framework where the companies that send traffic along their networks are charged a fee to help fund mammoth upgrades to their infrastructure, something known as the “sender pays” principle. Their logic is that certain platforms, like Amazon, Prime and Netflix, chew through gargantuan amounts of data and should therefore foot part of the bill for adding new capacity to cope with the increased strain.“The simple argument is that telcos want to be duly compensated for providing this access and growth in traffic,” media and telecoms analyst Paolo Pescatore, from PP Foresight, told CNBC. The idea is garnering political support, with France, Italy and Spain among the countries coming out in favour. The European Commission is preparing a consultation examining the issue, which is expected to launch early next year.
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