Paris: Google Incorporated and other providers of web content aren't contributing enough to the costs of telecom networks and may be subject to new proposals mandating payments, a French minister said.
The French government plans to convene a group including internet companies with "the objective that services that occupy the largest part of our networks contribute to the deployment and maintenance of those networks," Industry Minister Eric Besson said.
The minister's comments echo complaints from some of Europe's largest telecom operators, who are investing heavily in networks to cope with the growth of services including Google's YouTube.
France Telecom Chief Executive Officer Stephane Richard, Telefonica SA CEO Cesar Alierta and Telecom Italia SpA CEO Franco Bernabe have all said internet companies are getting an unfair deal from their networks.
Bill Echikson, a spokesman for Google, which is in Mountain View, California, couldn't be reached for comment.
"These companies are based in foreign countries, don't pay any tax in France, and occupy at the same time very dominant positions in the French market," Besson said. "The digital economy is developing thanks to the investments of operators."
A related debate, over whether telecom operators can interfere with subscribers' web service to manage the flow of data, is currently playing out in the US.
The Federal Communications Commission was set to vote yesterday on the so-called net neutrality rules.
France last week delayed a tax on online advertising revenue.
While the number of mobile data connections in western Europe will rise by about 15 per cent a year to 270 million in 2014, end-user revenue will fall about one per cent a year, researcher IDC estimates.
