--- title: "Google Says Shared Network Costs Is 10-Year-Old Idea, Bad For Consumers" description: "On Monday, Alphabet subsidiary Google rejected an effort by European telecoms operators to get Big Tech to contribute to network costs." author: "Muskan Singh" published: 2022-10-02 canonical: https://www.mindstick.com/news/2064/google-says-shared-network-costs-is-10-year-old-idea-bad-for-consumers category: "communication technology" tags: ["technology", "network", "community", "government"] reading_time: 2 minutes --- # Google Says Shared Network Costs Is 10-Year-Old Idea, Bad For Consumers Large operators like Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica, and others have long complained about IT rivals using their networks for freeriding purposes, claiming that since they account for a significant portion of internet traffic, they ought to pay a fee. On Monday, Alphabet subsidiary [**Google**](https://www.mindstick.com/news/2056/google-to-close-stadia-cloud-service-and-refund-gamers) rejected an effort by European telecoms operators to get Big [Tech](https://www.mindstick.com/services/technologies) to **[contribute to network](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/158542/what-is-a-firewall-how-does-it-contribute-to-network-security) costs, arguing that the idea was outdated and harmful to consumers**. Google also noted that the company was already investing millions in internet [infrastructure](https://www.mindstick.com/news/2313/a-cybersecurity-and-infrastructure-security-agency-will-monitor-the-us-midterm-elections). The European Commission announced that it would seek input from the telecoms and [**tech industries**](https://www.mindstick.com/news/1845/the-search-engine-google-and-its-services-went-down-during-early-hours-of-the-day) on the matter in the upcoming months before putting forth any legislative proposals. **Matt Brittin, president of EMEA** business & [operations](https://www.mindstick.com/blog/304985/how-does-devops-bridge-the-gap-between-development-and-operations-teams-like-git) at Google, made the remarks at the same time. The concept, which was proposed more than ten years ago, could sabotage Europe's [net neutrality](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/51901/what-is-net-neutrality) or free and open internet, according to Brittin. According to the text of a lecture he will give at a conference hosted by **telecom lobbying group ETNO**, he stated that introducing a 'sender pays' approach 'is not a novel idea, and would upend many of the ideas of the open internet.' These arguments are the same ones we heard ten or more years ago, and no new information has emerged that would alter the position. According to Brittin, it '**may have a [negative impact](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/86462/how-negative-impact-changes-the-human-behavior) on consumers, especially at a time of price hikes**,' and she cited a BEUC report that detailed these worries. By carrying **traffic 99% of the way and investing millions of euros to do so, he claimed that YouTube owner Google had contributed to improving [efficiency](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/13091/12-tips-to-boost-your-studying-efficiency) for telecoms carriers.** Over **23 billion euros were spent on capital projects in 2021**, a large portion of which went toward infrastructure, according to Brittin. These include **20 subsea cables worldwide, five of which are in Europe, six sizable [data centres](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/116053/will-run-ai-queries-on-indian-data-centres-microsoft) in Europe, and 20 locations in Europe** for local network caches, which are used to store digital material. --- Original Source: https://www.mindstick.com/news/2064/google-says-shared-network-costs-is-10-year-old-idea-bad-for-consumers Copyright © MindStick Software Pvt. Ltd. This Markdown version is provided for developers, AI systems, and offline reading.