After all the controversy about the new Dutch Telecommunications Act with hot topics, such as neutrality and cookies, the telecom operators now come with a report for the European Commission. 

In March they already agreed with European Commissioner Neelie Kroes (responsible for telecoms) to come with this report.  In the report they come up with the idea of charging online content providers such as Google for delivering their material to consumers. European operators say they must find new revenue sources if they are to build high-speed broadband networks based on fiber optic cables, which could cost up to 300 billion (!) euros.

The Telco’s have to find a way to recoup these large investments. New business models are necessary and charging online content providers for delivering their bandwidth-hungry (video) material might be the solution. This material can be Skype, WhatsApp, YouTube, but also the rather new video chat on Facebook and Google+.

Previously, Jens Schulte-Bockum, director of Vodafone Netherlands said that companies such as Google, Apple and Skype and WhatsApp are ‘free riders’ of their infrastructure and that the current business model is "unsustainable". "

Reference: Financial Times