Wrong on both counts. First of all, KPN is the largest but by no means the only telco. The only special position they have left is that because they used to be the state telephone monopoly they still own most of the last-mile copper. But they are forced to lease those at cost to the competition.
Second, their deep packet inspection strategy applied to mobile only. This isn't about the cost of the infrastructure, this is about the enormous loss they suffer from people switching from traditional, highly profitable telco services like voice and texting to internet-services like VOIP, Whatsapp etc.
They cannot compensate those losses by increasing the cost of bare internet without increasing what they charge so far above the actual cost that it would spark an instant consumer revolt. If all telcos would do the same, it would also set off anti-trust actions. If they wouldn't, well then everybody would simply move to the telco that charged considerably less (and open the door for new players). Mobile in Europe is a very competitive market
Bottom line: they've dug a very deep hole for themselves by relying on an unsustainable high profit margins on services people don't need anymore. And they've just dug it deeper by doing something silly that triggered net neutrality laws that otherwise wouldn't have happened.
Second, their deep packet inspection strategy applied to mobile only. This isn't about the cost of the infrastructure, this is about the enormous loss they suffer from people switching from traditional, highly profitable telco services like voice and texting to internet-services like VOIP, Whatsapp etc.
They cannot compensate those losses by increasing the cost of bare internet without increasing what they charge so far above the actual cost that it would spark an instant consumer revolt. If all telcos would do the same, it would also set off anti-trust actions. If they wouldn't, well then everybody would simply move to the telco that charged considerably less (and open the door for new players). Mobile in Europe is a very competitive market
Bottom line: they've dug a very deep hole for themselves by relying on an unsustainable high profit margins on services people don't need anymore. And they've just dug it deeper by doing something silly that triggered net neutrality laws that otherwise wouldn't have happened.