EU – Baltic States, Good for Business, Investments, Modern EU, Technology, Telecomunications
International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics
Friday, 29.03.2024, 10:58
Proposed Electronic Communications Code: reforming European telecoms
Political decisions in the next few months will shape the
EU’s telecoms markets for many years to come in order to produce the best
outcome for consumers and businesses. The EU aims at deploying world-leading
optical fibre and 5G networks across 28 states by 2025, an objective that EU
leaders endorsed at the Tallinn Digital Summit this fall. High-speed networks
are a precondition for European global competitiveness. Investment and new
digital infrastructure will play a vital role in the perspective Digital Single
Market.
To be among the front-runners for 5G, the EU states need
coordination in the EU’s spectrum policies better. It is essential to catch up
with leaders, e.g. the US, South Korea and Japan.
With a lot of support for 5G development
and more coordinated spectrum policies, there isn’t “much combined willingness
to implement them into legally binding rules”, said Commission Vice-President
A. Ansip at the European Regulators for Electronic Communications’
forum (Brussels, 18 October 2017). The 5G networks can no longer be addressed only at a national level; the
21st century demands a pan-European context.
In order to meet the EU’s 5G target, the member states need investment:
about €500 billion will be needed to build infrastructures capable of
sustaining high-speed networks. To start with, investors need stable rules that
support their risk-taking. Hence, the Commission is going to provide the right
regulatory conditions for competitive investments.
As soon as competition drives investment (these two things
go together), the latter need security. Presently, the regulatory environment
has been based on the principle that obligations are imposed on operators with
significant market power. This principle is flexible - but it is also
predictable and robust. It has provided legal certainty over the years, which
is essential.
However, that certainty would be compromised if
obligations become widely applicable irrespective of the providers’ market
power - as the Council now proposes. In this sense, such things as ambition
for competitive investments, incentives and the right balance are important.
As
to stability
and predictability, the EU needs to make the 5G vision a reality and make
spectrum available throughout the Digital Single Market: “it must be
consistent, coordinated, and with conditions that favour the major investments
needed for adequate coverage across Europe”, argued Commission vice-president. The proposed Code aims to achieve sufficiently long
minimum duration for spectrum assignments across Europe. The entire cycle
of spectrum management has to be addressed urgently: assignment, licenses’
duration and renewal.
When it comes to coordinating approaches to licensing, the
EU special agency -the Body of European Regulators for Electronic
Communications (BEREC) based in Riga - has an important role to play in
ensuring consistency by regularly assessing conditions for assigning spectrum.
For spectrum assignment and all other cross-border tasks, the
EU needs modern forward-looking institutions to make sure that European
new telecoms rules work efficiently and are implemented properly around all EU
countries. The process goes through independent national regulators with
sufficient responsibilities to deal with their own markets. Hence, the need to
have consistent regulatory decisions across the EU: for the sake of
connectivity, 5G and spectrum. Therefore, BEREC shall be significantly reformed
in order to create a stronger regulator on an EU level, an agency to reconcile
the interests of pan-European coordination with local flexibility.
As to the consumer aspect: there must be a
high level of consumer protection in order to have trust in the marketplace.
For that, Europe needs common rules, contrary to the present situation where
the degree of protection depends on the type of communication service without
consumers even being aware of it. The same level of consumer protection and
rules in communication services should be aligned in the EU.
The Digital Single Market should be completed in 2018; it will
make the EU stronger and more competitive as people and businesses, society and
economy will gain. Hence, the Digital Single Market will turn into reality, making
European existing physical single market into a digital one.
More information: in the Proposal for a new
European Electronic Communications Code.
Source:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-17-4043_en.htm