OTT players such as Google, Facebook and Amazon have been criticised by local telcos for not paying their proper share of taxes in France.
Quoted by Le Figaro, Pierre Louette, deputy DG of Orange and president of the French Federation of Telecoms (FFT), said their contribution, using existing networks to deliver their services, “is close to zero in France”.
This is in sharp contrast to French telcos, which contribute 27% of the €1.7 billion in taxes allocated each year towards the funding of culture.
A study by the FFT’s Roland Berger meanwhile shows that in 2011 Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft paid only €37.5 million tax in France, whereas their actual contribution should have been around €830 million based on local market rules and with no tax planning.
In their efforts to rectify this situation, French telcos are calling on not only the government but also Brussels to act.
They are also opposed to a proposed tax on connected devices such as smartphones and tablets. In their view, it is the wring answer to a question that does not even exist.
