From the article: "A commercial and ideological clash is set for next week,
when representatives of more than 190 governments, along with
telecommunications companies and Internet groups, gather in Dubai for
a once-in-a-generation meeting. The subject: Control of the
Internet, politically and commercially.
More energy is expected to be spent on how companies make
money off the Internet. In one submission to the conference, the European
Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association, a lobbying group based in
Brussels that represents companies like France Télécom, Deutsche Telekom and
Telecom Italia, proposed that network operators be permitted to assess charges
for content providers like Internet video companies that use a lot of
bandwidth.
Analysts say the proposal is an acknowledgment by
European telecommunications companies that they cannot hope to provide digital
content. “The telecoms realize that they have lost the battle,” said Paul
Budde, an independent telecommunications analyst in Australia. “They are
saying, ‘We can’t beat the Googles and the Facebooks, so let’s try to charge
them.’” Read more
