評論
打印
Business
商業報道
Internet access
互聯網接入
Congestion on the line
網上的擁堵
Internet-service providers clamour for a fairer contribution from content firms
互聯網服務提供商要求內容商的付出更加公平
THE raid by the European Commission's antitrust gumshoes this month on Orange,Deutsche Telekom and Telefónica of Spain seemed to come out of the blue.
歐盟委員會反托拉斯調查人員本月對Orange電信、德國電信和西班牙電信的突擊調查事先顯得毫無征兆。
The companies professed a surprise verging on stupefaction.
這些公司莫名驚詫，全然不知所措。
Even some Brussels insiders were caught on the hop.
即使布魯塞爾的一些內部人士也是措手不及。
Naming no names, the commission said the inquiry involved internet connectivity.
委員會表示這次調查與互聯網連接有關，但沒有具體指名。
The question is whether entrenched telecoms firms are abusing their strength in the market for internet traffic to deny video-streaming websites and other content providers full access to their networks to reach consumers.
調查的問題是：強勢的電信公司有沒有濫用它們在互聯網傳輸市場上的優勢地位，拒絕給視頻流網站和其他內容提供商到達消費者所需要的完全的網絡接入。
Besides the content providers themselves, the other potential plaintiffs are the wholesalers that the content providers use to ship their data across borders.
除了內容提供商，其他可能的原告方是中間人。內容提供商利用中間人跨界傳輸數據。
These rely on incumbent internet-service providers such as Orange to take the data the last bit of the way to subscribers' screens and mobiles.
這要靠占據主導地位的互聯網服務提供商，比如Orange，來完成數據傳輸到用戶電腦屏幕和手機的最后一段路。
All eyes turned to Cogent Communications, an American wholesaler which handles data for the likes of YouTube.
所有人的眼光都轉向了一家美國中間人公司：Cogent通信公司。這家公司處理YouTube以及類似網站的數據。
Cogent has complained, fruitlessly, to French and German regulators that their former monopolies were asking too much to handle data, and throttling the flow to consumers when bigger fees were not forthcoming.
Cogent曾徒勞地向法國和德國監管者抱怨它們以前的壟斷者對處理數據要價太高，如果不能帶來更高的收費，就限制傳輸給消費者的流量。
It is appealing against the French decision.
Cogent正在對法國判決提出上訴。
In theory Orange and the other network providers might simply pass on to their customers the cost of all their streaming and downloading of funny cat videos and porn.
理論上，Orange和其他網絡提供商可以很簡單地將它們傳輸和下載搞笑貓咪和色情視頻的所有成本轉嫁給它們的客戶。
But Europe's market is fiercely competitive; and regulators place all sorts of constraints on how networks can charge for their services, while haranguing them to invest in new technology and new capacity to keep up with rising traffic.
但歐洲的市場競爭非常激烈，監管者對網絡為它們的服務收費的方式設置了各種限制，同時喋喋不休地勸它們投資于新技術和新能力，以跟上流量不斷增長的步伐。
Though there are similar spats in America, it looks to some Europeans like another example of the rape of the old continent by America's data-mining, tax-avoiding internet giants.
盡管在美國也有類似的爭端，但在某些歐洲人看來，這只是舊大陸又一次被美國從事數據挖掘和避稅的互聯網巨頭欺凌。
The broader issue—and the reason, perhaps, why the antitrust watchdogs chose to weigh in—is that Europe is on the brink of big regulatory change.
一個更大的問題是：歐洲正處于一場管制大變革的邊緣，也許這也是反托拉斯監察機構選擇介入的原因。
A draft law to be published in September will subtly alter the principle of net neutrality,the idea that companies which own the infrastructure cannot give priority to some traffic over that of others.
9月份即將公布的一項法律草案將對網絡中立原則帶來微妙的改變。這一原則要求擁有基礎設施的公司不能偏向特定的流量，不利于其他流量。
This rule has fostered competition and kept prices down in Europe but has discouraged networks from investing.
這一規則在歐洲培育了競爭，壓低了價格，但打消了這些公司進行投資的積極性。
The draft law will ban incumbents from blocking data from some sources,
這一法律草案將禁止占主導地位的運營商阻塞特定來源的數據，
but it will let them impose varying charges for different qualities of service for data sent through wholesalers.
但允許它們對通過中間人發送的數據服務的不同質量收取不同費用。
Together with other provisions in the package, this should encourage Europe's telecoms firms to invest in upgrading their networks, its authors hope.
制定者希望，這一規定和該法律草案的其他一些規定將鼓勵歐洲的電信公司投資于網絡升級。
But the commission's antitrust watchdogs are bound to be on guard against any moves that might reduce competition.
但委員會的反托拉斯監察機構下定決心，時刻提防任何可能削弱競爭的舉動。
