Deutsche Telekom says it has given up on fair share debate

TL;DR: Deutsche Telekom CEO Timotheus Höttges said in May 2026 that the operator had given up on the telecom industry's "fair share" campaign because it was not making progress and lacked political support. The campaign had sought payments from large Internet companies for network usage. The article also cites operator and analyst data showing traffic growth alongside lower telecom operating and radio access network spending.

Deutsche Telekom CEO Timotheus Höttges said in May 2026 that the operator had given up on the "fair share" debate. Höttges said Deutsche Telekom was "not making any headway" and was "not getting political support either," and said the company would instead work with large Internet companies through partnerships.

The "fair share" campaign had been backed by several large European telecom operators and argued that large Internet companies should contribute to network costs. In the article, Light Reading says the campaign now appears to be over after Höttges' comments and notes that Connect Europe, formerly ETNO, had not responded to questions about his remarks by the time of publication on September 1, 2026.

The article cites Telefónica data showing network traffic rose from 86,591 petabytes in 2020 to 159,436 petabytes in 2024, while operating expenditure fell from €30.2 billion to about €24.8 billion over the same period. Telefónica's capital expenditure was about €5.9 billion in 2020 and about €600 million lower in 2024, according to the article.

The article also cites analyst forecasts that telecom network spending intensity is declining. Analysys Mason expects capital intensity in high-income markets to fall from historical levels of 20% to just over 10% by the early 2030s, while Omdia said radio access network spending fell from $45 billion in 2022 to $35 billion in 2025. Dell'Oro expects cumulative 6G RAN spending in the first six years after launch to be 10% to 20% lower than in 5G.