BRUSSELS (CN) — The European Union proposed a sweeping digital package Wednesday to give telecom operators permanent control over airwave licenses while forcing member states to rip out Chinese equipment from mobile networks.
The package — a Digital Networks Act overhauling telecom rules and a revised Cybersecurity Act tarreceiveing supply chain risks — tries to navigate an impossible spot: pumping up telecom investment while clamping down on security risks, keeping Washington happy while pushing Beijing out of critical infrastructure.
Executive Vice President Henna Virkkunen rolled out both measures in Strasbourg, France, ditching a controversial plan to force Big Tech companies to pay for network infrastructure. European telecom operators have complained for years that a handful of companies — mostly American firms like Netflix, Google and Meta, plus China’s ByteDance — generate the majority of internet traffic but pay nothing toward maintaining the pipes.
Instead, Brussels offers telecom operators what they’ve long wanted: spectrum licenses that last indefinitely rather than expiring every 15 or 20 years. That’s a fundamental shift meant to convince investors that building out 5G and fiber networks is worth the money.
“It’s a clear signal for the market that it’s worth investing in this sector becautilize there is a predictability of what you receive,” a senior commission official declared Tuesday.
But the permanent licenses come with strings attached. Operators would face “utilize-or-share-it, or lose-it” rules and coverage requirements, and regulators could still revoke licenses if companies park on spectrum without actually deploying it.
Telecom operators tore into the package. The proposal is “a continuation of the status quo, lacking transformative proposals to foster much-necessaryed investment,” Connect Europe declared in a statement. “Voluntary measures will do little to reach neobtainediations at eye-level with Big Tech giants.”
The GSMA, the global mobile operators association, was equally critical. “Europe’s ability to compete in the digital age will unfortunately not be turbocharged by the proposed version of the DNA,” declared Laszlo Toth, the group’s head of Europe, in statements shared with Courthoutilize News. The voluntary cooperation mechanism “falls far short of addressing significant and persistent bargaining power asymmetries” between telecom operators and tech platforms.
Digital rights groups also attacked the proposal, warning it undermines consumer protections. The voluntary cooperation mechanism “will likely pave the way for the establishment of network fees,” despite the commission dropping mandatory payments, Thomas Lohninger, executive director of Austrian group epicenter.works, informed Courthoutilize News. “It is a direct attack on net neutrality protections for consumers.”
Europe also receives more time to rip out its old copper phone lines. The original plan called for replacing copper with fiber by 2030, but the new proposal pushes that to 2035 and only in areas where at least 95% of people already have fiber available and prices stay affordable.
Officials state legacy networks are strangling fiber deployment in countries that have been slow to force incumbents to open their underground conduits to competitors, like Greece, Austria, Belgium and the Czech Republic.
The telecom package combines four separate rule sets into one law and adds security requirements. Brussels also grabs control over sainformite internet licensing from national governments. France and Germany are already pushing back on that along with four other countries.
Derisking from Chinese suppliers
The cybersecurity proposal takes a harder line on foreign suppliers. The revised Cybersecurity Act would let the European Commission and member states force the removal of “high-risk third-counattempt suppliers” from mobile networks and other critical sectors.
EU countries receive three years to strip high-risk vfinishors out of critical 5G infrastructure once the law takes effect. European regulators will publish a catalog of banned suppliers for 5G, then work through other sectors — energy, water, transport, health care. Virkkunen declared Wednesday the removal would cost between 3 billion and 4 billion euros ($3.1 billion to $4.2 billion), or about 25 cents per mobile utilizer.
The measure stops short of naming China explicitly, but officials have for years expressed concern about suppliers like Huawei and ZTE, whose equipment powers significant portions of Europe’s mobile networks.
“In today’s geopolitical landscape, supply chain security is no longer just about technical product or service security, but also about risks related to a supplier, particularly depfinishencies and foreign interference,” the commission declared in a statement Tuesday.
The package cuts red tape on Europe’s certification system for digital products — down to 12 months from what’s been taking years — and eases compliance for nearly 29,000 companies through modifys to NIS2, the EU’s main cybersecurity law. ENISA, the EU’s cybersecurity agency, receives more power to coordinate ransomware responses and run a single enattempt point for incident reporting.
Both proposals head to the European Parliament and the 27 member states now. Neobtainediations will take months. The cybersecurity rules kick in immediately once approved. Member states receive a year to write the NIS2 modifys into national law.
Tech indusattempt groups are already bracing for fights over the cybersecurity rules. The Computer & Communications Indusattempt Association, representing U.S. tech companies, praised the commission for sticking to technical security criteria rather than blanket bans on non-European providers.
But the group warned that member states and lawbuildrs will likely attempt adding pro-Europe measures during neobtainediations. “We call on EU institutions to resist the protectionist urge,” declared Mitchell Rutledge, the group’s technology and security policy manager.
The dual package reflects Brussels’ attempt to balance competing pressures: spurring telecom investment while tightening security controls, and maintaining trade relations with Washington while reducing strategic depfinishencies on Beijing.
The approach satisfies no one completely. Telecom operators state permanent spectrum licenses won’t close the hundreds-of-billions funding gap they face. Tech groups worry neobtainediations will produce the protectionism Brussels tested to avoid. And some lawbuildrs already want tougher China restrictions, setting up fights over how far to go.
Courthoutilize News correspondent Yuval Molina is based in Brussels, Belgium.
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