44 Executive Summary Taking the pulse


EU vice president Neelie Kroes has pursued a strong drive to see consumer benefits in telecoms (such as reduction of roaming fees) across Europe. “We should be proud of the levels of competition we have promoted in Europe,” she says. “It would not help Europe to move towards US-style duopoly. That said, we need to see that competition is not just about price competition: quality, and infrastructure competition matter too. The Commission has made a legislative proposal to make progress towards a true internal market for telecoms.” Kroes is also fully behind 5G.


“5G will offer totally new possibilities to connect people, and also things – cars, houses, energy infrastructures. All of them at once, wherever you and they are. This is hugely exciting. However, we are still a decade away from 5G deployment and we still do not have an EU-wide 4G network on which 5G will be built. “Things are improving, but


slowly,” she says. “Wireless broadband spectrum at 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and many bands above those have already been enabled for 4G by the EU. Under the Radio Spectrum Policy Programme, Member States have to ensure that these bands are made available to operators, with some temporary exceptions in the 800 band. It is much easier to implement 4G now than 3G was in the year 2000. 80% of the EU population is expected to be covered by LTE in 2018, but we can do much better.” Kroes is widely


A true digital single market


Neelie Kroes Vice President, European Commission


Region: Europe Interviewed by: Chris Forrester


acknowledged as being a tough cookie. One nickname given to her by Dutch colleagues is ‘Nickel Neelie’ because of her acknowledged habit of knocking heads together to push her agenda forward. “For almost five years I've


been urging Member States to license their 4G spectrum, facilitate investment in wireless broadband and extend coverage beyond urban areas so that no-one is left behind,” she says. “It's time for EU countries to put 4G deployment at the top of their digital to-do list, and support a true Digital Single Market.” Earlier this year she launched


a Public-Private Partnership on 5G. The EU is investing €700m over the next seven years and EU industry is set to match this investment by up to five times, to more than €3bn. “But we need to think


beyond borders and come up with a global approach towards 5G by the end of 2015. The clock is ticking but there is also real progress. Just a few weeks ago we agreed with South Korea to cooperate on driving this forward and we are discussing with other international partners, too.” She recognises that


consumer demand is stretching some suppliers to their limits. “Traffic is almost doubling every year and telcos are all too aware of pressure on their networks. In the longer term, 5G can help networks add capacity and improve capacity management. But the fundamental and more immediate problem is that network operators have not, and are not, investing enough in networks.” Simply put, she says the


main business of Europe's telecoms operators is selling and providing internet access. Consumer demand and use is


“It's time for EU countries to put 4G at the top of their digital to-do list”


booming and it doesn't make commercial sense for operators to under-develop or have sub-standard networks in a competitive market. Kroes is also a fan of Ultra-


HD, and says the building blocks are now in place. “We expect to see full deployment of Ultra-HD by about 2020. The Rio Olympics and other sporting events will be major drivers for take up. I'm pleased to note that non-traditional broadcast players, including mobile operators, are also increasingly interested in 4K TV and are running trials over 4G. The EU is also helping fund research to advance the adoption of open systems and standards like HbbTV. “But more broadly the


introduction of new technologies will certainly have an impact on Europe's existing broadcast landscape of public broadcasters, commercial broadcasters and pay TV operators. The technical and legal conditions under which this technology is introduced should neither favour nor exclude certain market players. To ensure media pluralism consumers have to have access to competing market players.”


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