EU’s telecom rules overhaul could reshape regulation in Europe and beyond
The European Commission’s proposed Digital Networks Act (DNA) is drawing scrutiny not only inside the European Union but also from regulators in other regions who may end up borrowing from its approach, according to a report from management and technology consultancy Detecon.
The draft law, unveiled in January 2026, is meant to combine four older pieces of telecom legislation into a single regulation. Because it is classified as a regulation rather than a directive, member states will not need to pass it into their own national laws. Instead, one uniform rule will apply across the entire bloc.
The Commission has framed the effort as a simplification of a fragmented legal landscape, one aimed at helping Europe compete more effectively in digital markets against the United States and China. After being drafted by the Commission, the proposed law is now in the process of being mulled over by the European Parliament and Council of the European Union, which are defining their positions and may look to amend the proposal.
Not everyone agrees that the plan is simple. A body representing European telecom regulators, an official from Belgium’s regulator described the 343-page draft as carrying ‘unnecessary layers of complexity’ and a ‘proliferation of objectives’ that would centralize power at the EU level – not an uncommon line of criticism in Brussels.
A deputy director general at the Commission’s Directorate General for Communications Networks (DG Connect) pushed back, arguing that the law would indeed do much to simplify telecommunications for EU members states.
“The DNA proposal turns four regulations into one single regulation, that in itself is a simplified approach,” said Renate Nikolay, deputy director general at DG Connect.
Who pays for the network
One of the most closely watched fights in the EU telecom sector is over the question of who should foot the bill for network infrastructure. European telecom operators have argued for years that large content and application companies, sometimes called CAPs, should help cover the cost of the networks that carry their traffic.
The rationale is that operators say they bear all the investment while these companies capture much of the benefit. Under the bloc’s existing net neutrality rules, telecom companies are barred from charging these companies more than other parties for network access.
The draft act keeps the substance of those net neutrality protections intact. Notably, it does not include a so-called ‘fair share mechanism’ or a formal dispute settlement process that would have forced payments between the two sides.
Instead, national regulators are being asked to offer voluntary guidance and a conciliation option, without the power to arbitrate. One participant at a stakeholder event warned that the law may still foreshadow a more interventionist approach over time.
The draft also broadens what counts as network interconnection, extending it beyond public networks to private ones as well, including infrastructure operated by large technology companies. It also broadens the definition of general authorization, though messaging services like WhatsApp remain excluded.
Some stakeholders have raised concern that the lines between telecom networks and digital services are being blurring, while others are worried about regulatory ‘scope creep’, or in other words, a creeping expansion of the applicability of the rules.
Spectrum and market rules
The proposal would also change how radio spectrum rights are issued. Article 24 calls for licenses to be granted indefinitely, subject to review by national regulators every 20 years, rather than through periodic auctions. If adopted, this would move the European Union closer to practices already used in the United States and the United Kingdom, and could effectively end the auction revenue that governments have historically collected from spectrum sales.
On competition policy, the draft introduces what it calls a hierarchy of remedies for regulators assessing dominant operators, with access to passive infrastructure, such as ducts and poles, positioned ahead of more traditional remedies like price controls.
Retiring copper networks
Perhaps the most ambitious element of the draft act is a plan to phase out legacy copper networks in favor of fiber optic cables to home connections, aligned with the bloc’s digital decade target of 1 Gbps connectivity for all households by 2030.
Phasing out copper wiring would be triggered in areas that reach 95% fiber coverage and where affordable retail service is available. Regulators would be required to publish switch off area lists starting June 30, 2029, with a goal of completing the transition by the end of 2035.
“While the EU’s copper switch-off plan promises major economic and environmental benefits, concerns remain over regulatory involvement in network investment decisions, the handling of sensitive planning data, and the costs imposed on operators and consumers,” said Richard Majoor, senior regulatory expert at Detecon.
The Commission estimates the shift phase out copper could deliver an economic benefit of between $157 billion and $327 billion, alongside reduced carbon emissions, with average download speeds rising from 314 Mbps in 2030 to 743 Mbps by 2035. Despite that, it is still not clear whether it will be consumers or operators that ultimately bear the cost of new fiber connections.
The report’s author argues that regulators in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and elsewhere have already shown a tendency to follow the European Union’s regulatory lead, pointing to how the bloc’s Digital Markets Act of 2022 influenced competition regulators in Brazil, India, and South Africa. As the Digital Networks Act moves through consultation, the report suggests its final shape will likely echo well beyond Europe’s borders in the years ahead.
