Álvarez-Pallete (Telefónica) insists on 'fair share' and asks technology companies to use the network responsibly

MADRID, 18 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The president of Telefónica, José María Álvarez-Pallete, defended again this Monday the need to implement the 'fair share' in Europe in order to be able to address the investments that will be necessary in the coming years to improve the network, by time that has asked large technology companies to make "responsible" use of it.

In an event organized by GSMA - an organization that Álvarez-Pallete also chairs - called "Building a Competitive, Digital and Green Europe" and focused on the Spanish presidency of the European Union, the manager argued that only 6 large technology platforms (Alphabet, Netflix, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Apple) generate half of global traffic.

"There are some players (in the market) who are making irresponsible use of the network. Let's imagine that someone designed products and services that consumed 50% of the oxygen or 50% of the highway lanes," the manager stressed in his exposure.

Thus, he highlighted that the 'fair share' is a "desperate call" for "responsible use of the network", not a "tax".

Likewise, he has emphasized that the 'fair share' does not violate the neutrality of the network, one of the arguments that the big technology companies have defended, which do not agree with the ideas of the main telecommunications operators on the 'fair share' .

Álvarez-Pallete has thus defended that they are not looking for money from big technology companies. "It's not your money, it's our money back that we want," he said.

In his speech he also maintained that the operators' desire is to advance "faster" in their investments to increase coverage, instead of having to invest more and more in increasing network capacity, something that, as he explained, It benefits both citizens and companies.

"If they consume more than 5% of the network capacity (in reference to large technology companies) they will have two years to drop below 5% (...) and if after two years they continue to consume more than 5% of the capacity they will have to sit with us, with an arbitrator, to decide how they are going to compensate us, because they are forcing us to dedicate part of the spectrum, part of the 'core', of the access network, just for them," Álvarez-Pallete proposed.

In his speech he also spoke about the situation of the telecommunications sector in Europe and has influenced the drop in the turnover of the main companies in recent years, while in other regions, such as Asia-Pacific or the United States, the situation It is the opposite.

In this context, Álvarez-Pallete has attacked the atomization of the sector in Europe and has called it "absurd" that in Spain there are four large operators in the market while in China there are only three.

"Does it make sense that there are more players in Spain than in China? Does it make economic sense? This is absurd and unsustainable (...) Does it make sense that in Europe an operator covers 5 million customers and that in the United States it covers 107 million customers and in China almost 500 million customers?" he criticized.

Furthermore, he regretted that in Europe there are 28 different regulations to regulate the radio spectrum, something that he considers is not in line with an adequate industrial vision for the future of the EU.