EU Commission Unveils Future of Telecom Regulation
The European Commission is preparing to redefine the landscape of the EU’s telecom industry with the forthcoming publication of the white paper “Building Europe’s Digital Infrastructure of Tomorrow”. This document aims to lay the groundwork for extensive consultations with stakeholders, setting the stage for a new EU-wide telecom act. The initiative, dubbed the ‘Digital Networks Act’ by Single Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, seeks to address the evolving needs of a digital society, emphasizing the importance of high-performing digital infrastructures for future applications such as autonomous vehicles and telemedicine.
A significant focus of the Commission’s white paper is the regulation of cloud providers within the telecom sector, emphasizing the need for a convergence between cloud infrastructures and telecommunication services. This approach, termed as “softwarisation” or “cloudification”, suggests that telecom and cloud service providers should be subject to equivalent regulatory frameworks. This alignment is seen as a critical step towards fostering the development of pan-European core network operators, ensuring a cohesive digital infrastructure across the EU.
The Commission also highlights the financial challenges associated with upgrading the EU’s telecom infrastructure to support ultra-low latency services like standalone 5G and fibre, estimating the investment requirement to exceed €200 billion. To address this, the Commission proposes the ‘senders-pay’ initiative, which would require major traffic generators such as Netflix and Google to contribute financially to the maintenance of telecom networks. This initiative is part of a broader effort to encourage all digital network ecosystem players to cooperate towards efficient resource use, with a particular focus on reducing the carbon footprint and environmental impact of digital services.
Lastly, the Commission addresses the issue of market concentration and spectrum governance within the EU’s telecom sector. It notes the fragmentation of the European telecommunications market and the lack of cross-border operations among European operators. The Commission calls for a reevaluation of current telecom legislation, in light of the 6 February Gigabit recommendation, which advocates for a reduction in price regulation for operators on fixed networks. Additionally, the Commission suggests strengthening EU-level coordination of spectrum auction timing and authorisation procedures to ensure a more integrated and efficient digital market.
Source: EU Commission mulls cloud providers regulation, update of fair share tax – Euractiv
