Provider Orange made Google pay for traffic

Telecommunications company France Telecom-Orange receives compensation from Google for the transmission of "large amounts of traffic" through its channels. This was stated by Orange CEO Stefan Richard (Stéphane Richard) in an interview on BFM Business TV, although he did not say how much Google pays (maybe there are symbolic amounts).

The exact amount is not so much important here, but the very fact that Google put up with the violation of the principle of network neutrality - and refused to fight the ransomware. Having paid to the provider, it encourages greed and sets a bad example for other Internet providers. This creates a dangerous precedent when traffic from one site can be “more neutral” than another.

Owners of communication channels (telecoms) have been trying for a long time to demand payment from content generators, which allegedly make a profit at someone else’s expense, without investing in data transmission infrastructure.

Until now, the status quo has been preserved: operators took money only from end-users and transferred any traffic to them. Does Google generate half the traffic on Orange? Well, good. Thus, he develops the business of the provider, helps him attract subscribers. These are Google’s principles since 2006 . The company has always declared the need for network neutrality, according to which the Internet was seen as a general information highway, to which both small and large players have equal access. Now the company for some reason has given up its own principles.

French Internet service providers and even government officials have long slanted their gaze towards Google. For example, from January 1, 2013, the second largest ISP in the country, Free.fr, has enabled the Google Adsense Internet advertising filter.for its users. Representatives of Internet businesses and owners of sites with free content have expressed a logical protest that they are deprived of a source of livelihood. Surprisingly, the Minister of Digital Economy of France Fleur Pellerin (Fleur Pellerin) expressed a positive assessment of the decision of the Internet provider Free. “Now there are real problems regarding the distribution of costs between content providers, in particular, video content generators, which require a lot of traffic, and telecom operators,” said Fleur Pelerin. “In France and Europe, we must find a more coherent option for integrating Internet giants into national ecosystems.” The Minister promised to convene a meeting with interested parties in order to find a compromise.

Orange director said that Google pays them deductions for the transfer of its traffic for at least a year, and this money goes to maintain and develop communication channels. In this light, the actions of Free.fr. become more understandable. The second-largest provider in the country probably found out about the secret deal between Orange and Google - and also wanted similar conditions, which is quite fair.

One way or another, but the news of the agreement between Orange and Google is a very sad event for anyone who considers network neutrality an important condition for the development of a free Internet. Now we can expect that other telecoms will turn to claims for the payment of compensation for the transfer of "large volumes of traffic" to Google, especially in countries where Google receives large profits from displaying contextual advertising.