02 October 2024

Regulation and support to investment essential in shaping our digital future

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Europe has made significant progress towards meeting its Digital Decade goals in recent years, particularly in expanding very high-capacity networks. However, sufficient investment is still needed to unlock their full potential. Speaking at the Europe Forum in Budapest on 1 October 2024, the BEREC Chair Tonko Obuljen (HAKOM, Croatia) acknowledged these technological achievements and emphasized the importance of a stable and adaptable regulatory framework. He highlighted that such a framework is essential to ensure market access and encourage investment in emerging technologies.

Whilst discussing the regulatory perspectives to alleviate Europe’s connectivity challenges, the BEREC Chair shared the European regulators vision that focuses on the shifting digital landscape, evolving market trends, and the entry of new players, as well as emerging competition bottlenecks. Tonko Obuljen also noted the emerging concerns such as cybersecurity, consumer rights, and the environmental impact of digital technologies.

“BEREC is ready to play an integral role in shaping Europe’s digital future. We remain committed to working with all stakeholders who can contribute to the achievement of our mission: to build secure, resilient and high-quality networks through which digital services will be provided in a competitive environment to the satisfaction of European businesses and citizens, our end-users”
Tonko Obuljen, BEREC Chair 2024 (HAKOM, Croatia)

Importance of future networks

During the conference, the BEREC Vice-Chair Kostas Masselos (EETT, Greece) highlighted the importance of future networks in delivering new services to end-users and the unique challenges they present. He emphasized that these services will not merely require faster versions of existing networks but will demand new, secure, and resilient infrastructures.

“These services will not need ‘just’ a faster version of our current type of network. Instead, they will need a new type of secure and resilient network, such as a new software-defined type of network or, in 5G language, a ‘network slicing’ kind of service”
Kostas Masselos, BEREC Vice-Chair (EETT, Greece)