As broadband providers seek payments from Big Tech, Google criticizes “sender-pays” model

Big Tech companies shouldn't have to pay for Internet service providers' network-upgrade costs, a Google executive said amid a push in Europe to have tech companies pay for broadband expansions and improvements. In November 2021, the CEOs of 13 large European telecommunications companies called on tech giants to pay for a portion of the Internet service providers' network upgrade costs. "Large and increasing part of network traffic is generated and monetized by big tech platforms, but it requires continuous, intensive network investment and planning by the telecommunications sector," the telecom CEOs wrote in a joint letter. EU regulators are taking the idea seriously, as the EU's executive body will launch a consultation in early 2023 on whether tech giants should bear some of the costs of Europe's telecoms network. The idea drew protest from 54 members of the European Parliament (MEPs), stating, "Large telecom companies have tried for decades to require compensation from content providers for providing access to customers, despite the fact that the telecom companies are already being paid by their own customers to provide access." Letting broadband providers collect these payments "would reverse decades of successful Internet economics by requiring the providers of websites and applications to pay fees to broadband providers that have never existed before," and "abolish key net neutrality guarantees that Europeans fought hard for," the letter said.