Cloud providers should play by same rules as telcos, EU commissioner tells MWC

Network cost sharing — or fair share, as network operators call it — is taking over the agenda of this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, used the event to detail the strategic pillars that will serve as the basis for the European Union’s future Digital Networks Act, which emerged in response to the public consultation that the EU held last year around shared network costs.

Earlier on Monday, industry leaders had called for collaboration on costs with other players in the technology market.

Breton began by highlighting the various disruptive technologies that are present at this year’s MWC, and what they all have in common: the dependence on robust and secure digital infrastructures, “A new architecture where telecommunications, cloud computing, and edge computing infrastructures converge.”

However, for the European commissioner, the current networks are not up to scratch and close to 200 billion euros are needed over the next six years to complete the deployment of 5G and fiber. Likewise, the regulatory framework that was designed two decades ago in the era of copper networks is not adapted to the new needs. For this reason, a few days ago, the European Commission presented the bases for what will be the new Digital Networks Act, which consists of three pillars: investment in research and technological deployment; the creation of a true digital single market with its own regulatory framework; and the protection of digital network infrastructure.

“It’s time to change the DNA of our connectivity infrastructure,” Breton said.  

Investing for technology leadership

“Europe is already a research and technology powerhouse. Now we need to invest in mastering the ongoing technological transformations and ensure that research leads to new markets,” Breton said. That is why the Commission is proposing the creation of a European ecosystem of innovators across the computing continuum called Collaborative Connected Computing or 3C Network.

This initiative seeks to ensure that investment in the deployment of networks as a service leads to the development of real ‘made in Europe’ services and applications in various economic sectors. Specifically, it aims to support the deployment of a secure and high-speed end-to-end connectivity infrastructure to connect the different actors and devices involved in a specific use case, using terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks. Initially, three large-scale pilots will be worked on in the areas of healthcare, mobility, and smart communities. 

A digital single market

The second pillar of the Digital Networks Act has to do with the creation of a digital single market, with its own regulatory framework that levels the playing field between players in the ecosystem.

“Currently, our regulatory framework is too fragmented. We are not making the most of our single market of 450 million potential customers. We need a true digital single market to facilitate the emergence of pan-European operators with the same scale and business opportunities as their counterparts in other regions of the world. And we need a true level playing field, because in a technological space where telecommunications and cloud infrastructures converge, there is no justification for them not to play by the same rules,” said the European Commissioner. 

This means, for Breton, “similar rights and obligations for all actors and end-users of digital networks. This means, first and foremost, establishing the ‘country of origin’ principle for telecoms infrastructure services, as is already the case for the cloud, to reduce compliance costs and investment requirements for pan-European operators.” It also implies, he continued, “demystifying the question of the optimal number of operators, because there is no magic number in this field. We can’t have a narrow view of markets and their players.”

Finally, Breton advocated “Europeanizing the allocation of licenses for the use of spectrum. In the technology race to 6G, we cannot afford any more delays in the concession process, with huge disparities in the timing of auctions and infrastructure deployment between Member States: we cannot afford the same outcome as in 5G auctions, where, after eight years, the process is still not concluded.” 

Secure and resilient networks

“In the current geopolitical context, we need to strengthen the EU’s economic security in communication technologies and address the physical security and cybersecurity of our infrastructures, as well as the data transmitted through them,” Breton said.

To address the threats and risks posed by new technologies, he said, it is necessary to develop European post-quantum encryption strategies and standards and to coordinate undersea cable security efforts among member states.  

“We are currently immersed in a global technology race. In this sprint for resilience and competitiveness, Europe cannot and will not be left behind. With vision, determination, and cooperation, I believe that a Digital Networks Act is within reach, for the benefit of all,” Breton concluded.