Big European telecom companies are renewing their push for new rules that would help them better compete with Silicon Valley

Major European carriers including Deutsche Telekom AG and Spain’s Telefónica SA are using the telecom industry’s annual conference in Barcelona to step up a campaign to pressure the European Union to repeal some of the extensive regulations governing carriers, or to extend similar rules to Internet-based text-message and voice-call services such as Facebook’s WhatsApp.

Top executives from 11 European carriers, including Vodafone Group PLC and Orange SA, are set to meet Feb 25 with the EU’s executive arm to urge for ways to “adapt its policy approach” to areas that include “online platforms” as part of a planned review of telecommunications policy in 2016. The major issue: Telecom firms complain that they do the expensive grunt work of building towers and other infrastructure, while online companies use those networks to offer services like WhatsApp or Google’s Hangouts for free. Telecom firms also argue that they are forced to pay special taxes, offer services at regulated rates and have strict industry-specific limits on how they can use their clients’ information. For instance, telecom executives chafe at privacy rules they contend make it difficult for them to sell location-based advertisements—a profit center for Google and Facebook.