The EU’s digital decade connectivity target aims at ensuring a fixed gigabit network (1 Gbps) covers all EU households, and for 5G coverage for all populated areas by 2030. A high-quality digital infrastructure based on such very high-capacity networks would underpin almost all sectors of a modern and innovative economy. The long-term success of a digital economy based on the internet of things, machine-to-machine technologies, cloud computing and big data, will crucially depend on access to the highest quality telecommunications infrastructure.
The proposed gigabit infrastructure act, introducing a regulation that would review and replace the existing Broadband Cost Reduction Directive, aims at facilitating and stimulating the provision of very high-capacity networks by promoting the joint use of existing physical infrastructure and by enabling a more efficient deployment of new physical infrastructure, so that such networks can be rolled out faster and at lower cost.
With the elections due to take place on 9 June, the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union will have a reduced mandate to try to complete the outstanding dossiers. Among them, the focus will be on the negotiations on the deployment of high-speed networks in the EU on ‘Gigabit Infrastructure Act’. The EU27 adopted their position on 5 December 2024.
Negotiators from the Council of the EU and the European Parliament met again on Monday 5 February for a third round of interinstitutional negotiations on the roll-out of high-speed networks in the EU (‘Gigabit Infrastructure Act’) . This meeting between Europe’s co-legislators could have been conclusive, provided agreement could have been reached on the issue of tacit approval.
“It was an uneventful text, but it has become more complex with the question of tacit approvals”, confirmed a source.
On this point, the Commission proposed that the absence of a response from an administration to a request for works authorisation within a defined period should constitute tacit authorisation. In its view, this would have made it possible to reduce the costs of deploying electronic communications infrastructures, which are partly due to the procedures for granting permits prior to the deployment or upgrading of networks.
Parliament’s position was that Member States should have 2 months in which to accept or reject a request. The Council of the EU removed this reference from the text in its position adopted on 5 December 2023.
On this subject, the European Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, who believes that tacit approval is one of the key measures for speeding up the process, had judged that this decision by the Council of the EU represented a “concern”.
According to the latest discussions, however, a compromise could be reached on this issue. It could provide for Member States to derogate from the principle of tacit approval. Nevertheless, in the absence of a response, the competent authorities could be required to compensate the parties who have submitted an application for authorisation.
Other issues also remain unresolved, such as end-user charges for calls and text messages within the EU. The current rules, capping the price of intra-EU calls at 19 cents per minute, will expire in May 2024. MEPs would like this ceiling to be zero, but the Council of the EU is reluctant.
The co-legislators will also have to agree on the date of entry into force of the text, with the Council expecting 24 months and the European Parliament wanting 6 months.
