Phone operators battle with internet firms

GOOGLE, Apple and Facebook must help pay for the billions of dollars of network investments needed for their bandwidth-hogging services, phone operators say.

As mobile and web companies add videos, music and games, European operators including France Telecom, Telecom Italia and Vodafone want a new deal that would require content providers to pay fees linked to usage.

“Service providers are flooding networks with no incentive” to cut costs, France Telecom chief executive officer Stephane Richard said. “It’s necessary to put in place a system of payments by service providers as a function of their use.”