A coalition of six countries is already pushing back against plans to overhaul the rulebook, urging Brussels to keep “users at the center” in a joint position obtained by POLITICO.
“We must encourage measures that will remove barriers to investment and secure our infrastructure,” but those “which aim to have consolidation as a goal may reduce competition with potential negative effects for the consumer,” the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg and Slovenia said in the document dated Dec. 11.
“We do see the seeds of ambitions again from the Commission, but we have now seen again telecom ministers mobilizing,” said a second telecom industry executive interviewed for this article.
Germany, France and Italy also shot down the Commission’s expected bid, calling for a directive (which must be implemented by each country) instead of a directly applicable regulation, over concerns that a one-size-fits-all approach risks trampling national prerogatives and ignoring local differences.
Many officials in the ministries, the executive argued, “have been stuck in the telco bubble for so long they don’t realize that telecoms is not telecoms anymore, it’s digital connectivity.”
At a time when Europe rethinks its place on the map, an underwhelming reform risks “ending up with networks that are not European-owned, nor sovereign, safe, or secure — because investors will simply pack their bags and leave,” the executive said.
