Bonn/Brussels, 06.12.2024 – Today, the European Council adopted its conclusions on the EU Commission’s White Paper on the future of digital infrastructure. Lisia Mix, Head of Federal and European Policy at the German Broadband Association (BREKO), comments:

“BREKO shares the great skepticism of the EU member states regarding the idea underlying the EU Commission’s White Paper and the reports by Enrico Letta and Mario Draghi that less competition within the EU could lead to greater competitiveness of European telecommunications companies vis-à-vis the rest of the world.

The Council is right to call for a detailed examination of possible consequences for competition within the Member States before considering facilitating consolidation in the European telecommunications market.

As the Council also correctly states, the differences between the individual telecommunications markets within the EU are too great to lump them all together under one regulatory umbrella. As the competitors of the ex-monopolists in many European countries – including Germany – make a decisive contribution to the expansion of fiber optic networks, the possibility of national ex ante regulation of companies with market power must be retained, as the Council demands.

The same applies to the transition from copper to fiber optic networks: We welcome the Council’s clear rejection of the unrealistic demand for a uniform EU-wide final switch-off date for copper networks and its focus on the importance of a consumer- and competition-friendly switch from copper to fiber optics.

BREKO also shares the Council’s criticism of the EU Commission’s plans to introduce a dispute resolution mechanism for disputes between “big tech” companies and network operators. If the large digital companies were to share in the costs of network expansion, this would have to benefit all companies expanding fiber optics and not just a few large European corporations.