Barcelona, SPAIN – A report launched today warns Brazilian policymakers that mandating direct payments to telecom operators from other online players, such as cloud providers and content delivery networks (CDNs), would be detrimental to the country’s digital ambitions.
Similar demands for network fees by telecom CEOs were rejected by the European Union only recently, but now Big Telco lobbyists are trying to get a foothold in other regions. Brazilian authorities are currently conducting a public consultation on the issue, which risks leading to a spillover of the same misguided demands that Europe already rejected.
Speaking at the Barcelona launch, co-author David Abecassis stressed that no matter how network fees are framed or named by their proponents, the impact on Brazil’s cloud market would be harmful.
“Regardless of how the fee is set, it reduces the ability and incentive of cloud and CDN providers to invest in their networks, at the expense of the quality of experience for end users, and costs may be passed on [to consumers] as well,” the Analysys Mason report reads.
The new study concludes that introducing network fees would “limit adoption of cloud services, [which are] key to achieving the digital transformation ambitions of the government of Brazil.”
Today’s launch, in the margins of the Mobile World Congress, was hosted by the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA Europe). In recent years, CCIA Europe has been at the forefront of the fight against the “fair share” demands of incumbent EU operators.
As a strong advocate for safeguarding the open internet, CCIA Europe is keen to share its first-hand experience from Europe with like-minded organisations. To that end, CCIA also decided to join the Brazilian Open Internet Alliance, in addition to commissioning this study.
The authors of the Analysys Mason report note that, while they focussed “on the situation in Brazil, the overall conclusions on the detrimental impact of network usage fees would be similarly applicable in other countries, including those in the wider Latin America region.”
The following can be attributed to Senior Vice President and Head of CCIA Europe, Daniel Friedlaender:
“Despite Big Telcos losing the fight in Europe, we now see they are trying to sell the same dangerous ideas to lawmakers in other regions. Yet, network usage fees would be just as bad for the average Brazilian internet user as for any European.”
The following can be attributed to CCIA Europe’s Policy Advisor, Maria Teresa Stecher:
“We don’t want to have the same discussion again in Brussels in a few years, so we are keen to support those fighting for an open internet around the world. That’s also why CCIA Europe is happy to join forces with the Brazilian Open Internet Alliance and launch this study today.”