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Big Tech should share Europe network costs, France, Italy and Spain say
5 Aug, 2022 / 06:39 AM / Google

Source: https://www.reuters.com/

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Reuters: As reported by The Times, 43 men and 33 women participated in the study wherein they had to use a driving simulator. It showed that women were able to take back control of the car more quickly as compared to men. Women took an average of 2.45 seconds to take back control of a driverless car, while men took 2.63 seconds on average.

The study concluded that at present, women tend to be less likely to be involved in road accidents as compared to men.

However, the likelihood of women failing driving tests is higher than men.

In a joint paper, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, the three governments said the six largest content providers accounted for 55% of internet traffic.


"This generates specific costs for European telecom operators in terms of capacity, at a time they are already hugely investing in the most costly parts of the networks with 5G and Fiber-To-The-Home," the document said.

It urged that European telecom networks and large online content providers pay fair shares of network costs.

"We call for a legislative proposal...ensuring all market players contribute to digital infrastructure costs," the document said.

Two Italian government officials confirmed the details of the joint document. One of them said Rome's government was set to give informal support in its caretaking capacity ahead of a general election in September.

The French and Spanish governments did immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to a study released by telecoms lobbying group ETNO earlier this year, an annual contribution of €20 billion to network costs by the tech giants could give a €72 billion boost to the EU economy.

However, digital rights activists have warned making Big Tech pay for networks could threaten EU net neutrality rules, which they feared could be watered down in a deal with online giants to help fund telecoms network. 

Any legislative proposal should "ensure fairness between users in accordance with the net neutrality rules, which is a core principle we absolutely need to preserve," the joint document said.

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