Big telcos promise awesome 5G—in exchange for weak net neutrality

Brussels' digital chief Gunther Oettinger: I like your manifesto, put it to the testo. (credit: EC-Audiovisual Service/Photo: Lieven Creemers)

BRUSSELS—A coalition of nearly 20 telcos including BT, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, Hutchison, Nokia, Orange, Telefonica, Telenor, and Vodafone have drawn up what they call their 5G Manifesto—outlining what they want from governments in order to deliver 5G coverage across Europe.

The 3,000-word document also makes certain promises: signatories have committed to starting large-scale demonstrations of 5G technology by 2018, and launching 5G commercially in at least one city in every EU country by 2020.

However, there is a caveat: in exchange, the telcos want net neutrality rules to be watered down and warn of the "danger" of strict regulation. Net neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers should treat all data the same, by not discriminating or applying different charges regardless of type of content or user. The manifesto says:

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