Statement by DIGITALEUROPE ahead of final trialogues on the Electronic Communications Code

“We need to get Europe closer to a telecoms single market that boosts services and network investment”

“The final rounds of negotiations on telecoms reform must achieve practical results in terms of protecting a single market approach and build a common digital infrastructure ensuring growth in Europe”, said Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director General of DIGITALEUROPE, less than a week before a crucial trialogue on the European Electronic Communications Code. “What’s also key is to have a final text that doesn’t completely jeopardise the pro-investment nature of the proposal: Europe needs infrastructure investment to grow and companies must know that there will be returns and stable regulation if they put in the money to deploy the networks of the future”, she concluded.

As much as possible, short of a main establishment principle, businesses in the EU should count on administrative simplification and a consistent approach to how their services are authorised in the Member States. DIGITALEUROPE calls on the co-legislators to ensure BEREC can provide the necessary templates to this end. Moreover, the need to have authorisations in each country where a provider operates should be reassessed after five years in light of market and technological developments.

Boosting investment in the EU’s digital infrastructure through better rules on access and co-investment was a raison d’être for the entire Code proposal. A sufficiently flexible mechanism that favours companies’ investment decisions must be ensured. If there is no possibility for differentiation, investment decisions will be delayed and the quality of networks in Europe will suffer – meaning the connectivity objectives for 2020 and 2025 will not be reached.

Finally, we keep stressing that the Code must clearly recognise that access to emergency numbers from software and cloud-based servicesis not always feasible with existing public safety infrastructure. Obligations should therefore only be imposed when technically possible, for example, when the Member State where a provider operates has established a single public safety answering point (PSAP) for all emergency calls from number-based communications services.