Telecom stakeholders urge Breton to reconsider some positions in light of Commission appointments

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Telecoms industry stakeholders have called on current Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton to reconsider some of his previous positions ahead of his possible reappointment for the 2024-2029 term.

French President Emmanuel Macron suggested Thierry Breton to serve as National Commissioner for another five years In a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Although the next European Commission’s portfolio negotiations are still ongoing and need to be formally approved by the European Parliament, France is reportedly Put your goal on A broader portfolio that includes economic security and defense.

Although Breton is known for his ambitious regulatory policies, stakeholders believe that Breton’s experience as CEO of France Telecom (now Orange) from 2002 to 2005 has overly influenced his previous tenure.

“His experience as CEO of one of Europe’s largest operators has influenced past legislatures,” a spokesperson for the European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA) told Euractiv.

An ECTA spokesperson added: “We hope that a potential second round of authorisations will recognise the key role of the different players in the telecoms sector, which is essential to guarantee Europe’s global competitiveness.”

During his last term, Breton advocated for a “fair share” tax that would have required big tech companies to pay fees based on the amount of bandwidth their digital services consumed on telecoms networks.

The proposal has been strongly opposed by many stakeholders – with the exception of large telecom companies – who argue that it would effectively impose an unfair tax on innovative digital players whose services actually help drive subscriptions to telecom services.

During his last term, Breton also support The Digital Networks Act redefines legislation on the EU telecoms market, including competition rules. Since then, the idea of further harmonizing the EU telecoms market has gained traction, with former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently backing it. Report and Political Policy.

However, any changes to competition rules will be met with great skepticism from industry stakeholders.

In April this year, consumer associations BEUC and ECTA published a Joint StatementThe EU and its Member States are urged to hold off on any legislative changes in the telecommunications sector until the Commission presents its proposals for a review of the European Electronic Communications Regulation (expected by the end of 2025).

A spokesman for German fibre optics association BREKO told Euractiv that in order to boost telecoms investment and accelerate the rollout of mobile and fibre networks, Breton should not support “already big companies becoming ‘European champions'”.

The spokesman added that “the EU should abandon this idea as soon as possible” and that “the high degree of corporate diversity should be seen as an advantage of the European telecommunications market.”

Furthermore, BREKO said: “The EU and Thierry Breton must recognise that the rapid shutdown of old copper networks is an important lever to support the rollout of fibre optics.”

Smaller telecoms companies fear that existing copper network operators could use the transition from copper to fibre to consolidate their market dominance. “The national regulator (must ensure) a competitive shutdown process,” a BREKO spokesman said.

Several industry stakeholders in the wider technology sector contacted by Euractiv declined to comment for this story.