Europe: EU advised to encourage telecoms mergers

A recent report has advised the European Union (EU) to soften its stance on telecom industry mergers, urging that mergers should be viewed more favorably by the EU than is currently the case. Former European Central Bank president and former Prime Minister of Italy, Mario Draghi stated that Europe's competition has been too focused on consumer prices, and lost track of the global digital economy where companies need scale to compete and innovate.

“Facilitating consolidation in the telecoms sector is needed to deliver higher rates of investment in connectivity,” the report, released Monday, said. “The cornerstone initiative is modifying the EU’s stance towards scale and consolidation of telecoms operators to deliver a true single market, without sacrificing consumer welfare and quality of service.”

“As a globally leading European technology company, we want to see a competitive Europe in the digital era, but that will only be realized if we have a sustainable telecom market that encourages investment in advanced communications infrastructure," said Lindqvist. "The report rightly emphasizes the need for facilitating consolidation in the telecoms sector and the harmonization of spectrum pricing best practice across the EU. Both are key factors in realizing a true Single Market for telecom and to incentivize infrastructure deployment in order to close the productivity gap."