Europeans’ data usage continues to rise, largely because people watch more videos on social media and streaming services. The Dutch telecom sector keeps a close eye on developments and advocates clear agreements with tech companies that provide most of the traffic, according to a tour of NU.nl. Other European countries are mainly advocating that big tech contributes to the payment.
By Rutger OttoDutch telecom providers have seen for years that customers are using more data. “This is largely caused by an increase in the use and quality of video services such as Netflix and Videoland,” says VodafoneZiggo.
T-Mobile mainly sees an increase because people watch videos on social media apps. “Internet traffic has been increasing in recent years,” said a company spokesperson. “Mobile traffic is increasing 20 percent every year.”
In the Netherlands, the major providers – KPN, T-Mobile and VodafoneZiggo – therefore conduct individual conversations with large tech and streaming companies.
KPN would consider it wise as the entire telecom sector to enter into discussions with large tech and streaming companies. “It doesn’t have to be just about money,” said a spokesperson. “But also, for example, about which choices you make in the field of technology and at which locations investments should be made in infrastructure.”
European countries want tech companies to share costs
The Dutch telecom sector is therefore taking a more moderate stance than other countries. This week, France, Italy and Spain put pressure on the European Commission, because they want big tech to help pay for investments in networks of their telecom providers.
That debate has been going on for years. The European trade association of telecom providers ETNO calculated this year that 55 percent of data traffic in 2021 came from services from Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Netflix. “With us too, these parties account for more than half of the traffic,” says KPN.
European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager (Competition) spoke in May about the issue of fair contributions to telecom networks. “We see that there are companies that generate a lot of traffic, but they don’t contribute to enabling that traffic,” she said. By this she means, among other things, investments in the network and data centers.
According to T-Mobile, the pros and cons of co-paying telecom networks have not yet been fully mapped out. Like VodafoneZiggo, the provider is following the European discussion with interest.
Dealing with data traffic more efficiently
Sharing the network costs is not the only solution to the increasing data traffic. For example, companies can consider ways to process videos in a lower bitrate to save data.
Netflix lowered the bit rates of its movies and series in Europe in 2020. The company said the measure resulted in a 25 percent reduction in data traffic, while the quality of the videos remained the same.
