Telcos urge EU to rein in Facebook, Google

[LONDON] Vodafone Group and Telefonica SA have urged the European Union (EU) to focus less on new rules for phone companies and more on Facebook and Google to reduce their dominance.

The carriers are battling so-called network neutrality proposals, championed by Internet companies, that they say will hurt business and discourage new products such as driverless cars. The proposals are meant to prevent carriers from blocking access to some websites or slowing Web traffic.

"Network neutrality was invented by those who don't want neutrality," Telefonica chief executive officer Cesar Alierta said at a technology conference in Santander, Spain, on Monday. "All we request is a level playing field for the whole sector, not only for telcos."