European Telcos Want Search Engines To Pay For Net Use

When O2 parent Telefonica’s CEO suggested, during a Bilbao press conference back in February, that maybe search engines should pay him for using his network, we assumed it was just posturing.

But Alierta is back making stronger comments, with two other European telcos in tow, in the FT

— “Mr Alierta said that if no revenue sharing agreement was possible between the internet search engines led by Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and the network operators, regulators should supervise a settlement.”

— France Telecom (NYSE: FTE) CEO Stéphane Richard: