Tag Archive for: Telecoms

EuroISPA Response to the Digital Networks Act Call for Evidence

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EuroISPA contributed to the European Commission’s consultation on the upcoming Digital Networks Act (DNA) and emphasises the importance of a transparent, inclusive and proportionate approach to reforming the EU’s electronic communications framework.

EuroISPA’s key messages:

  • Defining limits to harmonise access regulation and network transition: Harmonised access products must remain optional and copper switch-off plans must reflect national readiness and diversity.
  • Advancing harmonisation and simplification: Simplification must lower administrative burdens without compromising national flexibility or increasing regulatory overlap.
  • Enabling technology-neutral connectivity framework: A level playing field for fibre, wireless and satellite is essential to closing the digital divide.
  • Aligning environmental legislations with existing EU frameworks: Environmental rules should align with existing horizontal ESG frameworks, avoiding telecom-specific duplication.
  • Distinguishing consumer protection from enterprise services: Enterprise and public sector services should be exempt from consumer protection rules due to their bespoke nature.
  • Ensuring proportional and non-redundant governance structures: Knowledge sharing is welcome, but expanded EU-level powers must respect the principle of subsidiarity.
  • Focusing on demand-side gaps and digital skills: Efforts should address adoption barriers and digital skills rather than expanding costly Universal Service Obligations.
  • Maintaining a consistent commitment to net neutrality: Net neutrality must remain a cornerstone of the open internet and be upheld without reinterpretation or compromise.

Read the full response to the European Commission here.

Telecom operators must not become content police

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Telecommunications companies are the backbone of the Internet, akin to road maintenance operators tasked with ensuring smooth and functional infrastructure. Just as road operators are not expected to monitor vehicles for illegal goods, telecom operators should not be burdened with policing Internet content. Their role would shift drastically from facilitators to enforcers if tasked with such responsibilities.

Intermediaries Are Not Responsible for Data Content

Under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), intermediaries like telecom companies are not liable for content transmitted or stored by their users under certain conditions. The DSA also prohibits general monitoring obligations. However, recent EU legislative initiatives have started imposing new responsibilities on intermediaries, stretching the limits of this limited liability.

For instance, under Article 17 of the DSM Directive, online content-sharing service providers might be held accountable for copyright infringements. Other regulations increasingly require telecom operators to block or monitor online content, such as those addressing terrorist content or child sexual abuse. Even seemingly unrelated laws, onto the operators, like those governing payment services, propose shifting liabilities, such as financial losses from spoofing.

Protecting Communications Secrecy

Commission proposals like the CSAM Regulation suggest requiring all communication services to inspect users’ messages, undermining encryption. Scanning messages before encryption negates its purpose, much like obliging postal workers to read letters before sealing them. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in Podchasov v. Russia (2024) that weakening encryption violates human rights. Yet, Europol and Member States’ police chiefs recently called for breaking encryption for investigations.

These proposals often lack technical understanding, expecting telecom companies to assess the legality of all communications—an impossible and intrusive task. Content regulation should target platforms or sources, not infrastructure providers.

Legislation that weakens communication secrecy threatens human rights, risking a surveillance state akin to China. Good intentions cannot justify such erosion of freedoms.

Asko Metsola

Former legal advisor of FiCom

Charting the Connectivity Landscape: challenges, investments, and the EU’s vision for a digital future

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In 2023, the challenges for the connectivity sector in Europe were dramatically highlighted. The European Commission initiated an exploratory consultation, underlining the crucial need to review the existing regulatory framework to attract more investment in infrastructure in response to the profound changes in practices and to the development of innovative technologies, which are affecting the financial balance of the ecosystem.

Very high-capacity networks capable of processing massive amounts of data are needed for the EU to remain competitive, but electronic communications operators today face growing economic pressure. Digital markets are constantly changing, and the need for investment to keep pace with these developments is exploding. For example, incoming mobile traffic in France increased 18-fold between 2012 and 2021 and is expected to further increase 6-fold by 2030. Faced with an expected deficit of nearly 200 billion euros in investments to achieve the connectivity objectives of the Digital Decade by 2030, the industry must be supported by the European Union through a proactive and ambitious policy plan, spreading the investment effort across the entire value chain to ensure the resilience of an essential infrastructure at the heart of our economy.

The Digital Network Act is expected in 2024, as announced by Internal Market Commissioner Breton, who rightly reminded that cutting-edge telecommunications infrastructure is a fundamental pillar for growth, innovation and job creation. Among the priorities there is the need to adapt the regulatory framework to reduce costs and facilitate the rapid deployment of very high-capacity networks. The Gigabit Infrastructure Act proposed by the Commission in February 2023 was a promising start, but its ambition needs to be confirmed in the ongoing negotiations.

Finally, the green transition is affecting all sectors, including connectivity. Telecom operators seek to reach sustainability goals, but the success of these initiatives requires a global commitment towards a more optimised use of networks from the digital sector as a whole.

With the upcoming EU elections, 2024 will be a crucial year to make the connectivity aspirations of the European Union a reality. The announced “connectivity package” could be an essential instrument to overcome the challenges and secure the future of the sector, ensuring the sustainability of our infrastructures for the benefit of European citizens and businesses.

Romain Bonenfant
EuroISPA Board Member
Managing Director, Fédération Française des Télécoms

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