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A remarkable dozen CEOs of Europe's largest companies are coming to Brussels October 3 to ask Neelie Kroes to allow "new models involving traffic - or quality dependent payments at wholesale level." In other words, the telcos want to collect from Disney, Netflix, Google, Hulu and anyone else who wants to deliver bits to people in Europe. "To 'ell with net neutrality" is the message, which the companies believe will "enable a sustainable digital society." ETNO and the Financial Times are sponsors. It's branded as an "invitation-only" event but it looks like registration is pretty open.  

      Bill Kennard, U.S. Ambassador to Brussels, follows nine CEOs and has to decide whether to shoot down their goals. The subtext of the European carriers bit tax is that the content folks are largely American and the carriers European. All good Europeans therefore should support charges aimed at the Americans. This hasn't been declared a trade war, but that's really what's going on. Obama and his FCC are strong supporters of net neutrality, so Kennard would normally face down the Euro CEOs and make clear the U.S. will fight back. He may be conflicted; Bill in his years outside government at Carlyle owned a telco and made some ill-considered statements that arenow contadicted by a strong U.S. policy initiative. Perhaps some of the D.C. reporters can track down the U.S. position here.      

    Steelie Neelie's greatest achievement was to save consumers $billions by regulating down mobile call termination and roaming rates. Collecting on termination nearly always costs consumers, because the carriers have "terminating monopolies" on millions of customers that only slowly erode. Economist Jonathan Liebneau is opening the event and perhaps can give a clear explanation of why "two-sided pricing" requires strong competition. Strong competition, of course, is exactly what these carriers lobby against. 

     If they'll still allow me in after raising these questions, looking forward to seeing you there. I'll stay over in Brussels for Tuesday if anyone wants to get together.

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Here's the very strong program. 

Neelie Kroes, European Commissioner for Digital Agenda

10:30 - 11:00

Refreshments and Networking

11:00 - 12:40

Panel Session I
Making the Internet more sustainable: How should the current commercial model evolve?
Without the necessary investment in infrastructure, traffic congestion will inhibit innovation and internet usage. This panel session will examine what conditions may attract investment in networks and how more balanced economic incentives may address the current imbalance of economic relationships along the value chain.  What are the benefits and drawbacks of potential options to address the current imbalance, such as modifying end-user pricing and introducing new models involving traffic - or quality dependent payments at wholesale level? What form could cooperation between network and services providers and OTT players take? What role can policy makers take in supporting new commercial initiatives?

César Alierta, Chairman and CEO, Telefónica
Hannes Ametsreiter, CEO, Telekom Austria Group
Jon Fredrik Baksaas, President and CEO, Telenor Group
Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO, Research In Motion
Franco Bernabè, Chairman and CEO, Telecom Italia
Jean-Bernard Lévy, CEO, Vivendi
Jo Lunder, CEO, Vimpelcom
Ben Verwaayen, CEO, Alcatel-Lucent
Hans Vestberg, President and CEO, Ericsson

12:40 - 13:00

The European Digital Agenda - A view from the US
William E Kennard, US Ambassador to the EU