Network rates, the proposal for large online platforms to pay a part of the updates and expansions of the broadband network of telecommunications companies, can be another of the collateral damage of the tariff agreement between the US and the EU.
The “agreement”, quoted because European public opinion thinks in a majority way that is plus a Trump imposition than a commercial agreement between partnerscontinues to cause debate. If a picture is worth more than a thousand words, the face of circumstances of Ursula von der Leying the will of a delighted Donald Trump of life and the “forms” of the agreement, signed and publicized from a golf course, speak (in the humble opinion of who subscribes) of surrender and worrying lack of European muscle.
Some European rulers, such as the French Economy Minister, talked about “submission”in a feeling that many millions of Europeans share. Even so, the minister explained that “We were in an asymmetric war … We have had to assume a commitment that is a consequence of an aggression by the United States and in that context it is the best possible commitment”because it offers «Visibility and predictability in the short term».
In addition to the acquisition of 750,000 million dollars in American energy and investments for 600,000 million dollars in the United States until 2028, Europe agrees to a tariff that will generally impose a 15% to European exports that reach the United States, without reciprocity From Europe to American products. Although we do not know the ‘small print’ that seems to be written later, including specific tariff They have to do very especially with the technological environment.
Goodbye to network rates?
Internet suppliers have been demanding payments to technology companies for many years. While these pay for Internet access and, sometimes, they build their own network infrastructure, telecommunications companies claim that they impose such a large load on their networks that they should perform additional payments to contribute to the construction of broadband. Telecommunications companies call it «Fair participation».
European officials are working on a Digital Networks Law which could include (or not) a provision on network use rates. A report of the European Parliament Research Service indicates that the ongoing legislation could address the debate on the contribution to the cost of the network or the equitable distribution of the rates.
However, from the other side of the Atlantic they put a preserve. An information sheet of the White House on Trump’s trade agreement with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, contains a reference to the European Agreement of Do not impose rates for the use of the network. «The United States and the European Union intend to address unjustified digital business barriers»declares the White House. «In that sense, the European Union confirms that it will not adopt or maintain rates for the use of the network. In addition, the United States and the European Union will maintain zero customs tariffs for electronic transmissions ».
American analysts argue that the White House Declaration on the network use rates is vague, but that the trade agreement provides “A good excuse, in the style of Trump, to discard the entire idea, which in any case had huge failures and internal contradictions, and specifically went against the EU’s own objectives of having a robust industry, which in Brussels is considered much more important”.
As expected, the White House announcement was well received by the Association of the Computing and Communications Industry (CCIA), A pressure group of technology companies such as Amazon, Apple, Cloudflare, Ebay, Google, Intel and Meta. “The agreement establishes a process to eliminate unjustified barriers to digital trade, including the elimination of proposed network use rates, which force US technology companies to subsidize European telecommunications operators”.
It is clear that from the United States they want to mark the line to be followed above the EU legislature. And less bad than, after the White House statement in the sense of parking the network rates, the spokesman for the European Commission, Thomas Regnier, denied that there had been such confirmation. “What we say is that the Digital Networks Law would be a law and that we have the sovereign right to legislate as we want,” said Regnier. «There is a pending issue: the issue of equitable distribution. It is not something yesterday, and it will be addressed, but it has nothing to do specifically with the United States. This must be addressed in our next legislation. That is precisely what we will do ».
And in the rest of the technological panorama?
The hot matter of network rates is only an example of the intention of Protect American technology against everything and against all. The recent ‘AI’ Action Plan ‘of the United States was an example of’ gift ‘to those giants to dominate the world by obviating any type of regulation, security issues, ethics, which call’ ideological bias’ or the huge amount of resources needed to feed them, including energy. And like everything, it will end up affecting Europe and the rest of the world.
The great technology specifically referred to the French president, Emmanuel Macron, by assessing the tariff agreement: «Europe is not yet assumed sufficiently as a power… to be free you have to be feared. And we have not been feared sufficiently »he added when commenting on the commitment achieved on Sunday in Scotland.
Macron was convinced that the situation is not immovable because the political agreement reached “It’s not the end of history and not everything is closed”. The president of France commented that the EU can make progress and insisted on “Rehealth exchanges, especially in services” And this directly affects technological.
Although in the trade of goods the EU has been maintaining a global surplus in its relationship with the United States, In services it is the opposite. And much happens because US digital giants dominate the world of technology. And you just have to see your billionaires income, a part achieved in Europe.
