Public consultation on the draft BEREC Report on Virtual Worlds and Web 4.0

Deadline: Monday, 20 April 2026 (17:00 CEST)

During the 66th BEREC plenary meeting (12-13 March 2026), the Board of Regulators approved the Draft BEREC Report on Virtual Worlds and Web 4.0 (BoR (26) 39) for public consultation.

The report in a nutshell

Virtual worlds (VW) and web 4.0 are at the basis of a transition to the 4th generation of internet based services, leading toward industry 4.0 and smart society. This shift is driven by artificial intelligence (AI) integration in networks and services. Hence, web 4.0 and immersive services are meant to have a significant economic and social impact by transforming the way in which industrial production evolves and automates its processes. At the same time, they transform the fruition of online content and applications by users.

This draft BEREC Report provides a fully-fledged analysis.

The first part of the draft Report dives into the connectivity developments as well as the transition to network-as-a-service (NaaS). It also provides examples of use cases cutting across industrial and societal applications. The second part deals with challenges posed to electronic communications networks/services (ECN/S) operators related either to the investment lines or to business models and market positioning. In such a scenario, focus is dedicated also to regulatory challenges, for instance the need to guarantee openness and interoperability and to foster investment.

The Report builds on previous BEREC work, including the high-level position on artificial intelligence and virtual worlds provided as a contribution to the call for inputs on competition in generative AI and VW issued in 2024 by the European Commission (EC).

The report is framed in the following 5 chapters and Conclusion:

  1. Introduction Chapter by providing a definition for VW, based on its key characteristics;
  2. Chapter 2 provides some concrete examples of use cases;
  3. Chapter 3 describes the connectivity challenges faced to enable VW and the network upgrades;
  4. Chapter 4 assesses the potential role of electronic communication providers in the provision of VW/Web 4.0 services, as well as any possible future profit streams and incentives;
  5. Chapter 5 examines the potential electronic communications regulatory challenges that may arise.

Submit your contributions

Interested parties are kindly asked to send their contributions via email to [email protected] no later than 20 April 2026 (17:00 CEST).

Contributions should preferably be sent in English. To facilitate processing of the responses, the comments provided should clearly refer to the certain chapters/paragraphs of the document. After submitting the contribution, you will receive an acknowledgement email. In case you do not receive it, please contact the BEREC Office via the same email.

All stakeholders are strongly encouraged to submit their contributions as early as possible – those received after the above-mentioned deadline will not be taken into account.

In accordance with the BEREC policy on public consultations, BEREC will publish all contributions and a summary of the contributions, respecting confidentiality requests. Any such request should clearly indicate information that is considered confidential and should be accompanied by a non-confidential version.

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