The priorities and achievements of the digital infrastructure were the focus of the discussion between BEREC and the European Commission (EC) at the WIK Conference on 25 September 2024. During the discussion, BEREC Chair Tonko Obuljen (HAKOM, Croatia) emphasised the need for continuous investment, innovation, and regulatory alignment to meet the demands of the evolving digital landscape. In acknowledging the progress made so far, he outlined the crucial steps needed to ensure that Europe's digital infrastructure remains globally competitive.

The BEREC Chair reaffirmed that competition is the key driver of investment and innovation in the sector. He also noted that market and technological trends are transforming communication, by introducing new services and players into the internet ecosystem. These changes are reshaping the roles of traditional players, creating new competition bottlenecks in the value chain while removing others. He added that new challenges have emerged, particularly in safeguarding end-user rights, cybersecurity, and resilience.

Future telecom regulation under review

During the WIK conference discussion on future telecoms regulation, incoming BEREC Chair Robert Mourik, the EC and industry representatives discussed several topics that were explored recently in the EC's white paper consultation. The discussion focused on the themes of the digital decade connectivity targets and the investment needed to reach these targets, setting a target for the copper switch-off by 2030, access regulation in the context of phasing out the current ex-ante regulation regime, potentially expanding the scope of the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC) to include cloud services and the review of the universal services regime. BEREC participated in the public consultation on the White paper and submitted its input by providing views on technological trends and market developments, emphasising the key role of competition as the most powerful tool to ensure that operators are incentivised to invest and innovate.