27 November, 2014
Press Release: ETNO Statement on today's Council meeting
Brussels, 27 November 2014 - ETNO, representing Europe’s leading telecom operators, is closely following the debate around the Connected Continent Regulation and the NIS Directive at the Council.
In this context, we believe that negotiations on the Connected Continent Regulation should be consistent with the overall objective of fostering investments in telecom networks and promoting innovation in EU digital services. Achieving these objectives would bring the promise of a more prosperous and smarter Europe.
On the Open Internet, we call for Members States not to depart from a principle-based approach. Introducing overly-prescriptive rules would not only jeopardise our ability to effectively manage networks, but it would also limit our ability to invest and innovate.
In addition, we believe that broad and bold reform to the management of Europe’s spectrum assets is required. The growth of Internet access over mobile broadband is dramatically increasing demand for data capacity. Securing access to long-term harmonised spectrum is therefore critical. The EU should support and promote the on-going reallocation of radio spectrum to the telecommunications industry so that operators can continue to meet consumer and business needs for faster connection speeds and greater capacity.
Luigi Gambardella, ETNO Chairman, said: “We agree with President Juncker that more ambitious reforms are needed in order to boost the investment and innovation capacity of the EU digital economy. We also believe that on-going negotiations should take stock of this shared objective and make sure that any regulatory intervention is pro-innovation and pro-investment”.
As well as the Connected Continent Regulation, the Council will discuss the NIS Directive today. ETNO believes that this Directive is a unique opportunity to make sure that trust and security are ensured across the entire digital value chain. ETNO sent an Open Letter to Ministers on the topic, which is available at this link.
