> Switching charges should therefore be abolished after three years from the date of entry into force of this Regulation. Providers of data processing services should be able to impose reduced switching charges up to that date.
> In order to foster competition, the gradual withdrawal of the charges associated with switching between different providers of data processing services should specifically include data egress charges imposed by a provider of data processing services on a customer.
> Standard service fees for the provision of the data processing services themselves are not switching charges. Those standard service fees are not subject to withdrawal and remain applicable until the contract for the provision of the relevant services ceases to apply. This Regulation allows the customer to request the provision of additional services that go beyond the provider’s switching obligations under this Regulation. Those additional services, can be performed and charged for by the provider when they are performed at the customer’s request and the customer agrees to the price of those services in advance.
In other words, hardware, compute and storage can still be charged, but bandwidth (beyond the provision of the hardware itself) shall not be charged.
It feels like you’re missing the goal. The tweet is suggesting this change is to avoid EU registration. If it works, it would be a huge deal for Google.
I am not sure the ideal solution here. I do not like data caps in theory or practice, but I can see the CSPs thinking here: get paid for network usage somehow.
It just seems absurd since they are monetizing every part they can (insert capitalism is to drive revenue to shareholders rant here) that is wholly owned by each customer. VMs, IPs, disks, and databases are easy enough to say who owns what. But after that, the networking should be a shared service that is amortized by other product billables.
There is no real incremental cost to sending data in/out of CSPs so this feels like pure profiteering. They need networking for stuff to work, the fiber is already there, and they are billing for network resources. It is getting blood from a stone and reducing ability to flea, errrrm, migrate.
Maybe we return to the old days of mobile service and texting schemes. Free data ingress/egress on nights and weekends (or whenever traffic is less).
Perhaps it's less about billing and more about disincentivizing excessive use? Even if the service is free, it's not infinite and is ultimately a shared resource that should not be monopolized.
