At the 2024 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, telecom executives from Telefónica and Vodafone pushed for EU telecom consolidation, focusing on mergers and streaming as essential for telco success in a competitive market.
European telecom market should remain competitive globally, especially with the growing domination of key players from the US and China. CEO and chairman of Spain’s Telefónica, Marc Murtra, highlighted the need of regulatory changes.
“Europe’s position in the world will continue to dwindle and will not have the capacity to decide our future autonomously,” Murtra warned.
Europe Becoming a ‘Tech Taker’
Vodafone CEO, Della Valle, warned that the EU telecom industry is at risk of “becoming a tech taker and not a tech maker” due to fragmentation limiting innovation and investment. Valle also stressed a unified market to meet the increasing telecom service and data traffic demands.
“I think it needs to become a top priority in Europe to find more opportunities to create scale,” Della Valle added.
Telefónica and Vodafone CEOs argue that consolidating European telecom companies is key for Europe to compete with global tech giants and regain control over its technological future. They believe that EU telecommunications law and regulation have a key role in supporting this vision, enabling greater investment in telecom innovation.
In parallel, Deutsche Telekom CEO, Peter Höttges, shed light on EU telecom regulation ineffectiveness. He suggested that Europe need an initiative like the US’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to limit administrative obstacles.
“We need an initiative to cut down this bureaucracy and this administration here, because there are tens of thousands of people sitting there and administrating our industries,” he added.
Such comments reflect the frustration in the European telecom market, where regulations are complex and are seen as restraining telecom growth and innovation. Therefore, making the process easier will create a positive environment benefiting the biggest telecom companies in Europe.
Spectrum Auction Controversies
India’s telecom sector faces scrutiny as a parliamentary committee reviews reports on firms abandoning pre-2022 auctioned spectrum. A CAG report highlights gaps in spectrum usage and potential financial benefits for telecom giants like Reliance Jio due to regulatory loopholes.
The report highlighted that demand for services after the auction has led to the migration of operators to affordable alternatives licenses, causing delays in service rollouts. This has increased concerns over the efficiency of EU telecommunications regulation and its impact on the competition in the market.
Market fragmentation across both the telecom and AI sectors was also tackled at MWC by Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch. Mensch argued that consolidating EU telcos would allow AI to be integrated at scale, with providers able to provide personalized services. Mistral has recently partnered with Orange to provide mobile services using AI, once more pointing to the necessity of consolidating the European telecom sector to drive innovation.
While global telecom push steam ahead, EU telecom champions grow more and more united in demanding industry consolidation for the sake of innovation and increased global competitiveness. However, success relies on how well EU telecom regulation weighs mergers against competition policy in the next few years and with the 2025 Digital Networks Act, EU telecommunications law will determine how Europe will overcome challenges.
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