Brussels/Bonn, 21 October 2026 – Today, the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy’s Digital Networks Act rapporteur MEP Michał Kobosko published his draft report. Lisia Mix-Bieber, Head of Public Affairs at the German Broadband Association (BREKO) comments the draft report as follows:

“BREKO welcomes that MEP Kobosko maintains the European Commission’s proposal to pursue a rule-based approach to initiate the copper switch-off process. Rather than relying primarily on a distant end-date, the draft report rightly focuses on a timely start, based on clearly defined conditions, including a threshold of premises passed, and a mandatory switch-off process once those conditions are met. This is the crucial element: a successful transition should be driven by a clear and enforceable framework, rather than a single calendar date. Another noteworthy improvement in the report is the stricter language towards EU member states, asking them to mandate the copper switch-off without undue delay.

We also welcome Kobosko’s approach to highlight the promotion of effective competition in the telecommunications sector as a key objective of the DNA, as previously suggested by BREKO.

At the same time, this objective is not reflected in the report’s approach to mobile networks: Favoring basically unlimited frequency license durations and further extending the provision of mobile network frequencies from 40 to 50 years without any substantial competition safeguards would perpetuate the existing oligopolistic market structure in mobile communications and severely harm MVNOs and fibre internet providers who do not operate their own mobile networks.

In the draft DNA, the European Commission introduced the term “gigabit networks” together with an update of performance characteristics following the evolution of modern fibre networks. In this context, Kobosko’s proposal to replace the new term with the legacy term “VHCN”, dating from 2018, seems like an anachronistic step backwards.”