Barcelona (EFE).- Spain has asked the European Commission to put a legislative proposal on the table “as soon as possible”, so that, during the Spanish presidency of the EU, progress can be made in financing telecommunications infrastructures that allows telcos to invest.
The Minister for Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, referred this Monday, on the first day of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, to the public consultation launched by the European Commission regarding the payment of telecommunications infrastructures.
For Calviño, it is “obvious” that all the agents that benefit from the telecommunications networks have to contribute to their fair financing, alluding to the claims of the telcos who want the big technology companies that generate a lot of traffic for the network contribute to pay for these infrastructures.
Breton denies a battle between large companies and telcos
The EU Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, also spoke shortly before in Congress about this consultation, launched last week. He has denied that this consultation involves opening a battle between the telcos and the technology giants.
In his opinion, “there is much more at stake. It is not a question of whether one vested interest should prevail over another. It is about achieving the great leap in connectivity that we have ahead of us”.
He has stated that a financing model will have to be found for the huge investments needed in infrastructure, in a way that respects Europe’s fundamental values, which is freedom of choice for the end user and providing a level playing field.
In the air a more detailed regulation
Asked about the list of high-risk providers for 5G in terms of cybersecurity, Calviño recalled that Spain has adopted the legislation in the same way as the rest of the countries and that the principles of the regulations “are well known” by the operators, and they they are integrating.
All this, regardless of whether or not “some type of decision or more detailed regulation is formally adopted”, in reference to this list of high-risk suppliers, which has not been officially disclosed.
