Telefonica believes net neutrality should be ended so carriers can levy higher fees on firms with bandwidth-hungry applications and services.
CEO Julio Linares says the current fixed-fee model isn’t working, and that carriers must be allowed to explore new payment methods to cover the rising costs of network investment, Reuters reported.
Telcos could face a situation where expenses are higher than revenues if they aren’t allowed to charge heavy users like Google more, Linares told delegates at a Spanish telecoms conference yesterday.
“There is neither infinite space for Internet providers, not infinite capacity on networks,” Linares said.
Vodafone has already mooted the idea of charging providers of bandwidth-heavy content more, and Orange is drawing up plans for tiered pricing.