Written by Fu Yun Chi
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European telecommunications lobby group ETNO released data on Monday showing Europe is lagging behind the United States and Asia in 5G networks, cloud computing, investment and revenue. and reiterated its call for big tech companies to help pay for 5G and broadband rollout.
The comments by ETNO, whose members include Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica and Telecom Italia, come as the European Commission prepares a proposal on digital networks and infrastructure on February 21.
The EU telecoms industry’s hopes for Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Amazon, Netflix, Metaplatform and Microsoft to help pay for 5G and broadband deployments were taken to the next stage after the European Commission failed to propose legislation to this effect last year. was shattered by the decision to entrust it to 2025 team.
Despite a record 59.1 billion euros ($64 billion) of investment in the sector last year, only 10 of Europe’s 114 networks were available as 5G standalone, ETNO said. He cited a report commissioned by research group Analysis Mason.
For edge cloud, which brings computing power closer to end users, only four offers were commercialized in Europe in 2023, compared to 17 in Asia Pacific and nine in North America.
The report said this is because Europe’s per capita communications equipment investment and average revenue per user (ARPU) in 2022 will lag behind South Korea, the United States and Japan.
The study reminded EU regulators of the 2022 Declaration of Rights and Principles, which states that all market actors who benefit from the digital economy should make a “fair and proportionate contribution” to digital network investments.
“This discussion will shape the long-term strength and overall investment capacity of the European communications sector,” the report said.
ETNO Executive Director Lise Fuhr said: “The current state of affairs, both in terms of investment and policy, will not allow us to achieve the level of innovation sorely needed to sustain growth and achieve open strategic autonomy. I can’t do that.”
(1 dollar = 0.9229 euro)
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
