The balance of power is disproportionate, but they want to believe it. French telecommunications operators are reviving the old debate on the creation of a toll for digital content platforms. “We are no longer intended to be an open counter without compensation from the five largest content providers”, declares Arthur Dreyfuss, the president of the French Federation of telecoms (FFT), the organization which represents the principal French operators, except Free.
Every day, from 6 p.m., 80% of the traffic of the four French operators (Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Free) comes from Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Netflix. “When you take a highway, you pay for the journey, the maintenance of the road and the work to come. Why do content providers on telecom networks not pay any tolls? », is surprised Arthur Dreyfuss, also managing director of Altice Media.
Would French operators be bad players, while the French would probably take out fewer fiber or 5G subscriptions without YouTube, Netflix or Amazon Prime content? “We are not crying wolf”, assures the president of the FFT, who recognizes that “Europe would have loved to have such magnificent bands”.
Sovereignty issues
But all the same. When Orange generates 28% operating margin in the first half of 2021, against 43% for Meta (Facebook), it ends up annoying. Because if Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon (GAFA) can broadcast their videos correctly, it is thanks to the investments of operators in their networks. According to the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications, Posts and Press Distribution (Arcep), French operators invested 53.2 billion euros between 2016 and 2020, more than a quarter of their turnover. business hexagonal. Telecoms alone represent approximately 2% of national investment.
The exit of the FFT is not innocent, two months before the presidential election, and while France chairs the Council of the European Union for six months. “France has been a driving force on the digital tax. Why shouldn’t she be on this subject? »asks Arthur Dreyfuss. The idea of a “fair economic and technical contribution of major content providers to the cost of networks” is one of the fifteen proposals that the FFT will present in the coming days to presidential candidates, with the desire to bring the subject up to the European Commission. “We have the feeling of a political awakening”, believes Arthur Dreyfuss, in particular for questions of sovereignty.
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