EUR-Lex Access to European Union law
This document is an excerpt from the EUR-Lex website
Connected continent: ambitious reform package for Europe’s telecoms market
Connected continent: ambitious reform package for Europe’s telecoms market
Connected continent: ambitious reform package for Europe’s telecoms market
This summary has been archived and will not be updated, because the summarised document is no longer in force or does not reflect the current situation.
Connected continent: ambitious reform package for Europe’s telecoms market
The European Commission has come up with regulatory proposals to complete the EU’s single market for telecoms and to create a more digitally interconnected Europe.
ACT
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the telecommunications single market (COM(2013) 634 final of 11.9.2013 - not published in the Official Journal)
SUMMARY
The overarching aim of these proposals is to build a connected and competitive continent where consumers can benefit from digital services and European businesses and entrepreneurs can create the jobs of the future.
The Commission takes the view that all economic sectors increasingly depend on good Internet connectivity to be competitive and that the solution therefore lies in harnessing the potential of information and communications technology (ICT) in the EU’s single market.
The proposals would make a reality of two key EU Treaty principles: the freedom to provide and to consume telecoms services wherever one is in the EU.
A competitive telecoms sector fit for the future
The proposals aim at developing a dynamic, healthy and competitive telecoms sector, fit to face the future. They will push the telecoms sector fully into the Internet data-centric age, offering incentives for cross-border operations, new business models and more investment in infrastructures and in new, innovative services.
Open Internet, end of roaming charges and better consumer protection
The proposals would:
New jobs
However, the proposals do not concern the telecoms sector alone. A single market in telecoms will benefit the broader economy because each economic sector today increasingly depends on good connectivity to be competitive. This package should therefore bring about a major contribution to innovation, growth and jobs in Europe’s economy at large.
The proposals would enable the creation of long-term jobs, throughout the economy, and in particular in the digital sector, characterised by a very young workforce. In addition, the Commission also suggests working with companies in a grand coalition for digital skills and jobs in order to help combat youth unemployment in Europe.
Last updated: 15.05.2014