Competitive Markets Driving Demand
The overall competitive approach in Europe has worked well, has delivered good networks and competitive outcomes for businesses and end users. Europe should maintain the significant market power (SMP) process at the heart of economic regulation and maintain competitive entry to networks and services.
The FTTH Council Europe believes that a regulatory framework protecting incentives to investment in infrastructure is necessary now, and in the future.
A regulatory environment promoting effective competition – both existing and prospective – is key to secure widespread availability and adoption of VHCN based services. It was alternative operators that led the investments in FTTH in the past years, exerting a positive competitive pressure on the market which further accelerated the coverage across the EU also by SMP operators.
A premature withdrawal or lightening of regulation will hinder the development of competition, with a negative impact on VHCN deployment and therefore undermining the capability to achieve the goals set out by the EU Digital Compass, to the detriment of customers welfare.
Competition law has proven to be inadequate (in terms of both speed and predictability) to police telecom markets, so the removal of ex-ante regulation is not justified. The FTTH Council Europe remains confident that with the right policies, with competitive markets at their heart, the EU can deliver a more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable digital economy that will benefit everyone.
Stable and predictable investment and competition conditions are vital for the market as they are a prerequisite to attract future private investments in order to achieve the goals set out in the EU Digital Decade.
Well-functioning, competitive markets will enable entry and service development by operators as well as service and content developers. Over time, these actors will develop the service and content market and ensure that take-up of those content and services can be achieved at competitive prices.