Italy moves to ensure Big Tech share in costs of telecom networks rollout

Italy is moving to introduce measures aimed at ensuring that Big Tech firms share the cost of developing telecoms infrastructure in the country, Industry Minister Adolfo Urso said on Monday.

Telecoms companies argue that Alphabet’s Google, Meta’s Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft should bear some of the high-speed network rollout costs because they make up a huge part of internet traffic.

Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica and Telecom Italia call it fair-share funding while Big Tech says it amounts to an internet tax.

“We are all working on this issue. It’s important that we go in this direction,” Urso told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Milan.

“It makes good sense for big tech to contribute to the workload that is then entrusted to the large telecommunications networks,” he added.

Several ruling politicians have presented proposals in parliament stating that Big Tech should negotiate technical and economic conditions for the remuneration of telecommunications operators.

Our “proposal aims to introduce a contribution from online platforms, very large online search engines and gatekeeper servicers to support investments in electronic communications networks,” an amendment by Andrea Dara, from the League party, said.

The move is broadly in line with previous initiatives laid out at the European Union level before last June’s elections, which resulted in a second mandate for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.