Vice-President Ansip and Commissioner Oettinger outlined future EU telecoms framework at GSMA conference

Vice-President for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip and Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society Günther Oettinger both spoke this morning at the Mobile 360 Series – Europe event organised by GSMA, the association of mobile operators worldwide. They gave some insight into the upcoming update of EU telecoms rules to be presented in the autumn. It should incentivise and leverage more private investment, provide regulatory predictability and the right conditions for all operators to invest. The importance of better coordination of spectrum was underlined in particular. Vice-President Ansip said: “Coordinated spectrum is vital for a fully connected digital society and economy. It will help to attract investment and to make the next 5G mobile communications generation a success.” (Read his full speech). In order to prepare the upcoming reform of the EU telecoms framework, Vice-President Ansip insisted the proposal on radio frequencies presented by the Commission in February (press release) should be adopted by the end of this year by the European Parliament and the Council. Commissioner Oettinger said: “As I announced at the last Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the Commission is now working together with industry to prepare a coordinated 5G Action Plan for Europe. I am pleased to tell you that you can also contribute. We have just launched a consultation on this Action Plan, which will run until 11 July. So if you have views on 5G deployment, please tell us!” (Read his full speech – see also his blog post on the consultation on 5G