O2 want "content producers" to pay for access

Music and movie companies ought to pay internet network operators to deliver stuff to customers who are already paying to receive it, reckons O2 chief executive Ronan Dunne:

"Isn’t it fair to ask those big companies that are fuelling the data surge to help make a contribution to the infrastructure? If consumers alone are paying for the data there is no incentive on content providers to use networks efficiently," he said.

"So we think that part of the solution may come in moving away from the old one-size-fits-all model," said Dunne. "The alternative – that we all continue to pay for unlimited access – would simply end up pricing out the vast majority of our customers, who will continue to have a relatively modest but growing use of data in order to pay for the small proportion of very high users."

Actually, given that most telecoms companies have spent the last decade rolling about in massive vats of profit instead of making their networks keep up with demand, most content producers do their best to make efficient use of networks, as they're aware that there are lots of web users who are sat trying to access their sites via Edge, or contended-to-trickle ADSL.

Paying at the postbox, and paying at the letter box? Even the Post Office hasn't tried to pull that one.

Maybe the MPAA and RIAA shouldn't have been so quick to try and stop individuals redistributing their stuff over torrents - if you're going to be charged at point of upload, a business model where the uploading was spread across millions might have been quite a money saver...