Updated rules will give Member States more leeway to finance the rollout and adoption of broadband, albeit subject to stricter transparency requirements
EC sets out rules for broadband investments by Member States: On 12 December 2022, the EC adopted a revised set of state aid guidelines for broadband networks. These guidelines outline the rules by which the EC will assess funding from Member States to accelerate the deployment and adoption of broadband across the EU (while doing so at the lowest possible cost for taxpayers and without undue distortions of competition). The new guidelines will establish an up-to-date framework for the EC’s assessments and follow an evaluation of the existing rules (introduced in 2013) and consultation with key stakeholders, including Member States, businesses and citizens. The EC considered that while the current guidelines are largely fit for purpose, certain targeted revisions were necessary to take into account technological and market developments, and to reflect EU policy priorities, for example the connectivity objectives of the 2030 Digital Compass and the ambitions of the Green Deal.
Guidelines aim to support network deployments in underserved areas: The new guidelines modernise the EC’s existing public support framework by:
Allowing Member States to invest in areas where the market does not and is not likely to deliver download speeds of at least 1Gbps and upload speeds of at least 150Mbps;
Enabling state investment in mobile networks where that is not guaranteed by operators or other measures, such as coverage obligations in spectrum licences;
Explaining how public support (for monthly bills or device or set-up costs) can be used to incentivise the take-up of broadband services;
Simplifying certain rules to facilitate the practical application of the guidelines and to cut red tape and costs for companies and public authorities;
Clarifying and providing further guidance on key concepts used in state aid assessments carried out by the EC, such as mapping and reporting; and
Updating the criteria used for balancing the positive impact of state aid against its negative effects on competition and trade, and lowering the transparency threshold above which individual aid awards must be published on a central website from €500,000 to €100,000.
The new framework is just one policy initiative the EC is pursuing: The process to update the guidelines has run in parallel to some complementary and ongoing initiatives, such as the review of the 2014 Broadband Cost Reduction Directive (BCRD), which seeks to lower the cost of fibre and 5G deployments, and bridge the EU’s network investment gap. Proposals to shake up the BCRD were expected by the end of 2022 as part of the draft Connectivity Infrastructure Act; however, this has been pushed back to the new year – as well as reportedly renamed the Gigabit Infrastructure Act. This broad legislative package is expected to also include the EC’s public consultation on ‘fair share’, a move the Governments of Austria, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands consider would conflate two issues that ought to be handled separately.
Source: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_7595
