Draft Digital Networks Act lays out luke-warm reform for Europe's telecoms

by Annie Turner, Mobile Europe

The European Commission published its proposed Digital Networks Act, designed to update, simplify and harmonise the European Union's regulatory approach to telecoms infrastructure. This includes mobile, fixed, non-terrestrial networks, cloud and their associated ecosystems.

The goal is to encourage investment and ensure access to reliable, secure, fast digital infrastructure across the bloc as the foundation of a safe, connected and prosperous EU. If all goes to plan, it will supersede the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC), simplifying compliance with regulatory obligations and thereby reducing the burden of compliance.

The document is over 600 pages long so it will take a considerable time to digest. One probable bone of contention is immediately clear: in its drive to streamline and accelerate progress of the EU's digital infrastructure, the DNA will consolidate power in the hands of the Commission and other EU agencies like BEREC – which is not universally popular – and some new central agencies.

As Luke Kehoe, Industry Analyst at Ookla, put it, "The European Commission's Digital Networks Act is a surgical intervention rather than the 'game-changing' revolution promised in the [Thierry] Breton era.

In Kehoe's view, it's not necessarily the end of the road for 'fair share' as the Commission retains the option of future intervention without triggering conflict with the August 2025 US-EU trade agreement. After all, the temperature is plenty hot enough at the World Trade Forum at Davos. "The fight has been deferred, not decided, and could be repurposed quickly if political conditions shift," according to Kehoe.

And there are other possible takes on this too: Simon Dumbleton, CTO for Europe, World Wide Technology via55, argues, "The more interesting shift is commercial. With regulatory solutions off the table, telcos will need to rethink how they capture value – moving beyond connectivity alone.

"That could mean closer commercial cooperation, leveraging trusted billing relationships, bundling digital services, or acting as distribution partners for large traffic source offerings. The future lies in creative partnerships rather than regulatory confrontations."

Arguably, having got precisely nowhere despite lobbying efforts for more than a decade, maybe telcos do need to move on.