Operators ask the next presidency to establish a fair contribution of content providers to their networks. So far, only in South Korea have they succeeded
French operators set out their vision for the next five years: Last week, the French Federation of Telecoms (FFT) presented a set of 15 proposals for the next French presidency, which will start in April after the next general elections. These proposals are meant to guide telecoms and digital policy for the next five years, and rest on three pillars – investment in digital infrastructure, fair competition between national and international players, and sustainability and inclusion. One proposal under the pillar of sustainability calls for establishing a “fair economic and technical contribution” from the major content providers to the costs of running networks, in order to ensure their economic and environmental sustainability.
Network usage fees have only been introduced in South Korea so far: The proposal revives the long-standing debate around the relationship between ISPs and content providers. For years, ISPs have argued that content providers have been free-riding on their networks without contributing to their investment – but rarely have they been successful in charging them, or in convincing regulators that they should pay for network use. In the last few years, only in South Korea have ISPs obtained favourable legislation that mandates content providers to pay network usage fees. In June 2021, a court in Seoul ordered Netflix to pay SK Broadband about £125m for its network quality management services. Aligning the issue with sustainability is perhaps an emerging trend, with a recent event hosted by Deutsche Telekom doing the same.
ISPs believe they can shift the balance of power: The Korean case remains an anomaly for now, but it has certainly given ISPs around the world a belief that a change in policy is possible. In the UK, BT recently called for a review of the net neutrality framework, arguing that the way in which networks are accessed is not equal, and that new regulatory requirements for content providers that generate high traffic peaks could support policy ambitions and create space for other services. French ISPs are making a similar argument, noting that 80% of their daily traffic after 6PM comes from Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Netflix. They are also hopeful that France’s attention to digital sovereignty and its leadership on the taxation of digital services could mean that the political will on this issue will emerge. Content providers are pointing to the value they offer to end users, which leads them to purchase connectivity from ISPs in the first place, and note they have invested in content delivery networks to enhance the quality at which their services are accessed.
