Netflix fights attempt to make streaming firms pay for ISP network upgrades
Enlarge / Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters. (credit: Netflix)
Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters spoke out against a European proposal to make streaming providers and other online firms pay for ISPs' network upgrades.
"Some of our ISP partners have proposed taxing entertainment companies to subsidize their network infrastructure," Peters said in a speech Tuesday at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona (transcript). The "tax would have an adverse effect, reducing investment in content—hurting the creative community, hurting the attractiveness of higher-priced broadband packages, and ultimately hurting consumers," he argued.
ISPs have been seeking payments for years and their demands are now being evaluated by European regulators in an exploratory consultation. The European Commission last week started taking public input on the proposal to make online platforms pay for telecom companies' broadband network upgrades and expansions.