“This is a critical moment for Europe to ensure its competitiveness and success in the digital economy.” With this sentence, the lobby heads of Nokia, Ericsson and Vodafone, Marc Vancoppenolle, Andrew Lloyd and Ben Reschner, are making a kind of plea for help to EU politicians. Your plea: In Europe, the expansion of high-speed networks still requires huge investments. To be able to cope with this, the industry urgently needs more regulatory freedom and a harmonized EU internal communications market. Otherwise she will be on the verge of extinction.
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“Achieving Europe’s ambitious 2030 connectivity goals – providing gigabit fixed networks to all homes and 5G to all populated areas – depends on continued investment by telecoms operators.” All three write for the online magazine Politico. At the same time, network operators must participate in frequency auctions, some of which end up in hundreds of millions of euros. These costs are often made even worse by short license terms.
According to equipment suppliers and network operator representatives, these factors, combined with “rising costs, inflation, interest rate increases and the pressure to maintain low prices, have created an ominous storm that threatens the long-term viability of the telecoms sector.” At the same time, “Europe’s own digital ambitions are at risk.” For the authors, one thing is clear: “Something has to change.”
Deregulation and bureaucratisation desired
One of his suggestions: According to him, the “modernization of regulation” would benefit the entire digital ecosystem. Reducing the administrative burden and focusing on fewer, more flexible and simpler rules seem to be “the right ingredients if Europe wants to be ready for the next innovation cycle”.
The Digital Networks Act (DNA), planned by previous EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, could also play a key role in the sector’s survival, lobbyists insist. It aims to harmonise the allocation of radio frequencies. It will also enable the industry to connect with next-generation telecoms markets, where software solutions combined with cloud and edge computing are expected to dominate. Breton wants to reduce its reliance on Chinese suppliers.
Elsewhere, the three networkers also see “the first signs that political decision-makers are moving in the right direction.” For example, they welcome former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta’s report on the internal market, according to which “size” is important, especially for telecoms companies. Germany and France also want to enable “European champions” in this sense, especially in the mobile communications sector, which is disliked by antitrust watchdogs and consumer advocates.
EU citizens’ right to a digital future
The authors appreciate that the Federal Network Agency is also currently discussing proposals to extend frequency licenses for another five years. In return, operators would have to commit to fulfilling certain supply obligations and providing fast internet to 99 percent of rural households by 2030. However, this initiative is controversial because newcomer 1&1 could miss out.
Notably not on the wish list: Big Tech sharing the costs of network expansion, as telcos Vodafone & Co. continue to demand.
(MKI)
