Brussels, 28/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - Telecom operators have welcomed the conclusions adopted by the European Council on Friday 25 October. These conclusions recognise the importance of the digital economy to achieving sustainable growth and creating jobs (see EUROPE 10951). The conclusions point out that:
ETNO, which defends the interests of leading telecom operators, agrees with the Council on the urgent need to speed up ongoing initiatives (reducing costs for broadband development, e-payment services, data protection, cyber security and online administration). ETNO underlines three priorities: 1) support for investment in new generation infrastructure by way of further deregulation; 2) the development of a new open European internet model to consolidate innovation and consumer choice; 3) efficient and flexible market structure. Leading telecoms operators also call for the swift adoption of the European Commission proposed “connected continent” package.
ECTA: new telecom operators agree with the fundamental principles drawn up by the Council for the new framework: 1) tackling fragmentation and removing barriers to new operators who wish to penetrate the market and invest in it; 2) promoting competition that stimulates innovation and investment as the cornerstone of the new framework. In this context, ECTA calls on the European Parliament and Council to pay more specific attention to this aspect in their negotiations; 3) attracting private investment and working on viable models so that Europe can create open infrastructure models that can adapt to change.
GSMA: mobile operators emphasise that investment in new telecommunications structures, such as 4G, are vital for underpinning growth and therefore call for a regulatory environment that supports this approach. The GSMA was delighted with the European Council's strong message emphasising the need to promote these investments and speed up legislative initiatives in key sectors such as data protection, electronic identification and the removal of barriers to broadband development. It also calls on stakeholders to immediately begin work on the “connected Europe” package and formulate detailed proposals that can help to efficiently tackle the obstacles preventing investment and to make further efforts in the field of spectrum radio. (IL/transl.fl)