European developments April 2016
This month the European Commission set out “a set of measures to support and link up national initiatives for the digitisation of industry and related services across all sectors and to boost investment through strategic partnerships and networks.” It also proposed “concrete measures to speed up the development of common standards in priority areas, such as 5G communication networks or cybersecurity, and to modernise public services”; more information in this Q&A. This set of initiatives is the first industry-related package under the Commission’s Digital Single Market strategy.
At the same time the Commission published its “blueprint for cloud-based services and world-class data infrastructure to ensure science, business and public services reap benefits of big data revolution.” Key to this are the Commission’s plans to “create a new European Open Science Cloud that will offer Europe's 1.7 million researchers and 70 million science and technology professionals a virtual environment to store, share and re-use their data across disciplines and borders.”
The European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association (ETNO) published a statement welcoming the Commission's approach to digital industrial leadership; it also underlined the importance of infrastructure to the Commission’s strategy: “The on-going upgrades to our networks, the investment in new networks and the work towards launching 5G are the pre-requisite to Europe’s digital industrial leadership. In this context, the reform of the current Telecoms Framework, as well as the harmonisation of spectrum policy, will prove fundamental in removing barriers to telecoms investment and to innovation.”
Also this month:
- The Commission published the full reports on the results of the two Digital Single Market public consultations conducted last year: one on the review of the telecoms regulatory framework and the other on the future needs for Internet speed and quality beyond 2020 (more background on these consultations here and here).
- The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) reported on discussions with the European Commission on broadband infrastructure to improve ICT products and services in Europe. Discussions focussed on infrastructure mapping, as a tool for targeting broadband investment effectively.
- EurActiv reported that the European Investment Bank (EIB) will set aside a dedicated part of the European Fund for Strategic Investment (more here and here) for rural broadband; the programme could be up and running in around a year.
