Launched a year ago, the future European regulation on broadband infrastructure – Gigabit Infrastructure Act (GIA) – aims, as its name suggests, to promote the deployment of 5G and fiber optic networks within the Union European Union by harmonizing the systems in force.
The text is currently at the last stage of the European legislative process called trilogue, negotiations bringing together the European Commission, the Council and elected representatives of Parliament.
While a decisive meeting is to be held this Monday, February 5, the Euractiv site takes stock of the progress. One of the main points of disagreement concerns the principle of “tacit approval” which had once disappeared.
Tacit authorization
The absence of a response from an administrative authority regarding a request for civil engineering works would amount to implicit authorization.
MEPs want this principle of tacit authorization to be maintained in order to accelerate the deployment of very high-speed broadband networks. According to Euractiv, the Council suggests referring to it… while leaving Member States free to deviate from it.
Administrative authorities that fail to provide a timely response should, however, compensate applicants or give them the right to file a complaint in court.
Reduce the cost and time of network deployment
In a press release, European telecom operators gathered around the ECT, ETNO, GIGAEurope and the GSMA expressed their serious concerns about this calling into question the principle of tacit approval while the primary spirit of the regulation was to reduce the cost and network deployment time.
“ On the contrary, the current negotiations risk penalizing telecoms operators, without bringing any real benefit in terms of administrative simplification. »
A shortfall of around 2 billion euros per year
Another controversial subject: intra-EU communications costs. We thought the subject of roaming was over since the abolition of roaming fees in 2017. A citizen can use his mobile phone in a third country under the same conditions as in France.
On the other hand, extra billing has been maintained for intra-EU calls when you call a European country from France. It amounts to 0.23 euros per minute for telephone calls and 0.072 € per SMS.
While the cap on this surcharge expires in May, MEPs want to take advantage of the Gigabit Infrastructure Act to remove it altogether. The Council would not be in favor of this.
A shortfall for operators of around 2 billion euros per year
The shortfall for operators – around 2 billion euros per year – could hamper their investment capacity to build the telecoms infrastructures of the future. According to Euractiv, the final text should nevertheless include a system of progressive reduction of the ceilings and a review clause.
Here again, the lobbies of European telecom operators are up in arms against this possible deletion. “ The historic investment effort in 5G and fiber optics across the EU will be undermined by proposals for aggressive and unjustified price regulation in competitive markets for intra-EU communications, without any assessment of impact or evidence of market failure. »
Put an end to the speculation of “land aggregators”
Finally, the Gigabit Infrastructure Act intends to tackle the speculative behavior of land operators specializing in telecommunications, called “land aggregators”. These new kind of TowerCos take advantage of a lease expiring to offer the owner of the land the opportunity to take it back.
They can then impose their conditions on the telecom operator who installed its antenna there.
In France, the French Telecoms Federation (FFT) is proposing to secure leases to avoid this speculative drift. At European level, the elected representatives of Parliament intend to tackle this problem through the future regulation.
Respect the very high speed infrastructure deployment objectives set for 2030
The Council is once again skeptical, in the absence of an impact analysis. He also points out that less than half of the Member States have found that they have land aggregators in their national telecoms market.
According to Euractiv, a dispute persists, finally, over the entry into force of the Gigabit Infrastructure Act. “ While member states would like the regulation to enter into force within 24 months, MEPs believe that this deadline should be shortened to 6 months. in order to meet the very high speed infrastructure deployment objectives set for 2030.