The long-awaited overhaul of the EU regulatory framework for telecoms is now fully in place.
Background: The European Commission’s proposal for a new Electronic Communications Code dated back to September 2016. It took more than two years to reach a final agreement, which was sealed by the final vote in the European Council on 4 December. Following the vote, the approved text has now been published and is fully into force.
What are the key points of the Code? It is an extremely long and complex piece of legislation – testament to lengthy and complicated negotiations. The Code redefines electronic communications providers, to include OTT communications services, and gives stronger powers to the Body of European Regulators (BEREC) which will have closer oversight of national regulatory authorities’ decisions, among other tasks. The Code aims to facilitate investment in superfast broadband by granting lighter regulatory burdens to co-investment ventures, and to wholesale-only networks; market reviews will have a longer time frame (five years instead of the previous three).
What to expect now? The Code has received criticism across the board, but industry is now accepting it and willing to move on. Incumbents have labelled it “a missed opportunity”, whereas alternative providers warn that competition should never be taken for granted. The key challenge will be to foster greater investment in superfast broadband, at a time when Europe is worryingly lagging behind in the race to a Gigabit society. Member states will now have 18 months to transpose the Code into national legislation.
