The EU commission wants to ask internet giants to pay – but Austria is against…
A number of countries, including Austria, do not consider a proposal from the European Commission, which is currently hotly debated under the title “Fair Contribution”, to be fair. Commissioners Thierry Breton and Margarete Vestager are urging internet giants such as Netflix, Amazon and Google to share in the costs of expanding the network.
State Secretary Florian Tursky (ÖVP) speaks out against the plan and will make a corresponding statement in Brussels. He fears that the extra costs will be passed on to customers by the tech giants. “Citizens then pay double. That cannot be in our interest,” Tursky told the “Krone”.
Austria is not alone in this attitude, Germany, Finland, Estonia and the Netherlands are also sceptical. Telecommunication companies in Europe, on the other hand, are exerting particular pressure on the major online platforms to share costs. The reason for this: the telecom providers are locked in a price war, they undercut each other with fixed rates and demand support.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
