Some 35 European chief executive officers of leading
telecommunications companies, have endorsed the Electronic Communications Code
(LCC), describing it as an ambitious outline to Digital Single Market (DSM)
strategy, reports ITRealms.
The group of CEOs and presidents in a press statement
endorsed by all 35 CEOs and made available to ITRealms, noted they have been vocal
supporters of the ambitions outlined in the Digital Single Market (DSM)
Strategy.
They pointed out that Europe needs an environment that
supports innovation, benefits consumers and enables increased investment in a
competitive global economy. An indispensable enabler underpinning this ambition
is the once-in-a-decade review of Europe’s telecoms laws, enshrined in the
Electronic Communications Code (the Code). We write today to express our deep
concern as to the status of the political negotiations among the European
Institutions.
According to the original political and regulatory plans,
the Code should be aimed at “incentivising investment in high speed broadband
networks and achieving a consistent single market approach to spectrum policy
and management”1. Success will be measured on whether we will collectively
deliver increased levels of fibre roll-out and 5G to the benefit of European
citizens and businesses.
ITRealms gathered
that the telecoms companies signing this document have currently boosted their
investment effort to €29.2bn/year in EU282 and we are the continental leaders
in network roll-out and service innovation. However, if Europe is to match
global competition and deliver on the Gigabit Society objectives, policy and
regulatory conditions need to provide markets with ambitious pro-investment
rules and increased certainty, moving away from interventionist regulatory
dynamics.
“Today, unfortunately, there are no signals that the Code
will deliver on its original ambition and support the investments required. On
the contrary, there has been little progress on vital measures to facilitate 5G
roll-out with stronger spectrum governance and longer license duration. The
Code also falls short of supporting successful fibre investment models, which
require strong incentives for co-investment and commercial agreements alike.
Similarly, the Code fails to provide more space for innovation and consistent
standards of consumer protection for equivalent services. What is more, analysts
and investors are worried about additional ex-ante regulatory constraints in
the field of so-called oligopolies and price regulation, while the European
Commission originally proposed more regulatory certainty and better investment
conditions,” part of the statement read.
They, therefore, called on the European Institutions to
urgently address the shortcomings of the current debate by re-injecting the
needed ambition into the process. Otherwise, even the existing EU Directives
would deliver more predictability and certainty.
The Code should usher European citizens and businesses into
the digital future, enabling the European Union to be in lead of the vigorous
transformation we will experience in the next 10 years. We believe that
European lawmakers should not accept a text falling short of the initial
objectives. For this reason, no agreement should be given to any legislative
measures delaying digital investment.
“We remain keen to continue engaging in the debate and we
stand ready to support the European Institutions in restoring the initial
spirit of the reform. Europe must not miss this defining opportunity to lead
digital transformation and ignite growth,” they enthused.
Chuks Egbune/GEE
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