Neelie Kroes, the European Union’s digital commissioner, continues her campaign for a single telecoms market for the region. Speaking at the European parliament in Brussels this week, she claimed this change could boost the EU economy by €110bn a year.
‘Quality communications for business could be worth €800bn over 15 years,’ she added. ‘Broadband could create two million jobs. This is investing in tomorrow’s growth.’
Kroes has been vocal in her support for a single market, with no border checkpoints and a ‘super-regulator’ to harmonize spectrum policy and other rules. She told the parliament: ‘The rest of the world is racing ahead. America, Japan, Korea have 88% of the world’s 4G subscriptions; the EU has just 6%. Meanwhile, only 2% of European homes have superfast broadband.’
Among Kroes’ proposals are a single authorization system to allow operators to offer services anywhere in the EU; and end to roaming fees; and more consistent rules on spectrum licences, block sizes and fees. ‘All those things will make it easier to run a network over multiple countries ‘ and easier to enjoy high quality services over them,’ she said.
Kroes’ speech today outlined the main elements of what she will include in her ‘Telecommunications Single Market: A Connected Continent’ package of proposals, which will go to the College of European Commissioners in early September, as an initial step towards legislation.