Network Usage Fees Will Harm European Consumers and Businesses

TL;DR

Network usage fees, the idea that certain types of companies should pay internet service providers (ISPs) for the ability to deliver their content to consumers, both hurts consumers and breaks the status quo that has facilitated the rapid spread of the global internet.The ISPs, who built the infrastructure (sometimes with government funds), claim they incur costs for delivering service while CAPs just get to ride the network for free.In this arrangement the largest ISPs benefit because they already control the most extensive networks.These investments are made for the purpose of increasing the reliability and quality of their services globally, which practically means making sure their services reach consumers faster with less latency.Instead of having to bring data thousands of miles from YouTube headquarters in California to Seoul, South Korea, an ISP can instead tap into a cache of data YouTube has placed in Seoul, South Korea itself to deliver that same data, but only across the distance of two miles."

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