6
NEWS
ISSUE 03 2014
GSMA director general calls for European reform A
nne Bouverot, director general of the GSMA has sent an open letter to Commissioner Neelie Kroes, vice president of the European Commission, calling for a telecoms single market to drive growth and employment across the region.
The letter, endorsed by 10 CEOs of leading European mobile operators, describes how Europe was long viewed as a pioneer in mobile, but is now lagging behind other regions in the deployment of mobile broadband, particularly in 4G.
Despite having the world’s highest unique subscriber penetration rate at 80 per cent, Europe is the only region to see revenues decline – from €162 billion in 2010 to €142 billion in 2013.
Ms Bouverot explains how the mobile industry can play a key role in the European
recovery, supported by more comprehensive policy reform to deliver a true single telecoms market that encourages investment in mobile broadband connectivity, enables innovation and helps build consumer confidence in mobile services.
“Europe’s telecoms network operators are facing decreasing revenues and reduced market values compared with operators in the US and Asia, and with players across the ecosystem,” Ms Bouverot said.
“This is impairing our ability to invest in the communications infrastructure needed to put Europe back on the path to growth and jobs, and to restore its global competitiveness.
“We share the European Commission’s view
and driving Europe’s competitiveness.
nSpectrum for growth: broad and bold reform to the management of Europe’s spectrum assets is required. It should be focused on the timely release of new capacity that is harmonised across the single market.
Anne Bouverot that a competitive
telecommunications single market can help meet this challenge and underpin growth, employment and citizen welfare across the European Union.”
Ms Bouverot goes on to highlight the areas she feels need to be addressed as:
nModernising regulation: an essential element to the telecoms single market is the elimination of outdated and unnecessary layers of regulation, more harmonisation at the European level, and the consistent application of rules irrespective of the technology being used, who is providing the service, or where individuals are located.
nConsolidation for investment: the evolution of Europe’s antitrust framework to support market driven restructuring and consolidation will be necessary for redefining the investment climate
nA level playing field for all: even-handed regulation across the value chain is needed to open up opportunities for all players to offer competing new Internet services, together with innovative, interoperable and secure telecommunications services.
nTrust for take up and use: privacy and security are fundamental to building trust and confidence in the uptake and use of new digital services by EU citizens. The current patchwork of regulations, which compromises the effective and consistent protection of consumers across the digital value chain must be addressed.
The letter was endorsed by Timotheus Höttges, CEO, Deutsche Telekom; Christian Salbaing, deputy chairman, Hutchison Whampoa Europe; Stéphane Richard, chairman and CEO, Orange; Marco Patuano, CEO, Telecom Italia; César Alierta, executive chairman and CEO, Telefónica; Hannes Ametsreiter, CEO, Telekom Austria Group; Jon Fredrik Baksaas, president and CEO, Telenor Group and Chairman, GSMA Board; Johan Dennelind, president and CEO, TeliaSonera; Jo Lunder, CEO, VimpelCom; and Vittorio Colao, CEO, Vodafone Group.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52