EU Answers Telecom Industry's Call For Sector Overhaul

The EU on Wednesday dialled up its focus on modernising Europe's telecoms sector, with proposals it hopes will create "stronger European players" and a level playing field

Brussels, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Feb, 2024) The EU on Wednesday dialled up its focus on modernising Europe's telecoms sector, with proposals it hopes will create "stronger European players" and a level playing field.

The European Commission also wants EU states to bolster their coordination for the security of underwater cables it said were "potentially under threat in the context of the war in Ukraine and tensions with Russia".

The telecoms sector has long called for the European Union to heed its demands for a revamp of the industry with massive investment for better infrastructure.

The commission proposes ways to make cross-border operations easier for telecom firms and to fund the necessary upgrades to infrastructure including the rollout of 5G.

The plans are in a document that will form the basis of a new law but the EU invites feedback until June 30 before any regulation's creation.

"The telco sector suffers from a fragmented marketplace, a lack of single market," European Commission vice president Margrethe Vestager said during a press conference.

The current law is "20 years old, it has worked well, but it dates back to the era of copper networks", said the EU's internal market commissioner, Thierry Breton.

Vestager pointed to connectivity gaps at borders as well as "27 national markets with different network architecture, different levels of network coverage, different national spectrum markets and management" and to a certain extent, even regulation.

"Only if we remove all these differences, we can see the emergence of a true single market for telco," Vestager said, adding that "true pan-European players... will emerge stronger". Currently there are around three or four operators in most EU states.

Vestager said the obstacles for the sector were not competition rules, but "the burden of having to deal with different regulations".

After a draft of the document leaked last week, there had been speculation that it meant the EU would ease merger rules but officials dismissed this interpretation.

Vestager's comments come a day after the EU approved a merger of Orange and MasMovil in Spain, on condition they take steps that would also strengthen their competitor, Digi.