Digital Networks Act

"The expansion of the objectives of the EU legal framework for electronic communications should be avoided, even if this currently appears politically opportune due to technological and geopolitical developments," says cep expert Philipp Eckhardt, who analysed the White Paper. It harbours the risk of interfering in market processes for purely industrial policy reasons.

According to Eckhardt, a more standardised and coordinated radio spectrum policy has the potential for more efficient use of spectrum and a strengthening of planning security and willingness to invest, especially for network operators operating across borders. "However, a stronger shift to the EU level regularly presupposes a similar starting position in the Member States. Yet, the telecommunications markets are still characterised by numerous national peculiarities."

In the opinion of the cep researcher, the envisaged date for the complete decommissioning of copper cable networks - 2030 - has the hallmarks of a planned economy. "It is intended to influence the decision-making of market players in such a way that certain political goals, such as the rapid expansion of high-capacity networks, are achieved more quickly. Whether and, if so, when decommissioning takes place should be decided by the market players themselves and not dictated by the state," demands Eckhardt.

The cepPolicyBrief focusses in particular on the plans presented in the White Paper to deepen the internal market. It examines the Commission's ideas on adapting the objectives of the EU regulatory framework for the telecommunications sector, on future radio spectrum policy, on regulating access to networks, on decommissioning copper cable networks, on universal service obligations and on measures for the most sustainable digital transformation possible.