Technology expands the human possibilities of the connected world and so the EU’s Single Market must go digital, with high-speed networks as the backbone, to support transformation of the EU’s economy and society and enable Europe’s growth.

DSM relies on connectivity

Digital Single Market will rely on the availability of high-speed networks; therefore it should in particular support the rollout of fast broadband by reforming the telecom regulation and more harmonization in spectrum. Europe needs pro-investment approach with incentives to provide qualitatively superior networks. Nokia recommends moving away from detailed regulation of infrastructure and prices toward simple and symmetric (applying to all sectors in the value chain) rules focused on transparency and quality of service. The historical dichotomy between electronic communication services and information society services should be narrowed, primarily by deregulating the former. With regard to spectrum, we ask for harmonized release of bands to speed up availability and uptake of new services and for longer license durations. Markets should be allowed to consolidate, horizontal merger guidelines should be reformed and merger specific dynamic effects on investment in networks should be added as a criterion. We ask to improve the legal certainty and flexibility of sharing networks or selected network elements.

DSM for innovation and competition

The strategy should enable the development of the programmable world which, beyond connectivity, needs common standards, interoperability and accessible platforms. It's important to preserve incentives for standardisation: the investment required for open standardization in telecoms is premised upon innovators obtaining a fair return on their investment in R&D embodied in standard essential patents.

Interoperability and consumer choice should be among the paramount design principles of any regulation. A regulation should be predictable without being prescriptive and be based on strong, well-founded, target oriented principles and a fast, lean enforcement mechanism that allow to react on anticompetitive behaviour of dominant market participants. Any market intervention should be limited to cases where market actors violate those principles, since regulation cannot foresee the technology development or consumer preferences.
Horizontal regulation rather than sector specific rules: the same principles should apply to all similar services. Regulation should not favour certain technical solution or business models but follow a principle of “business model neutrality and technology neutrality”.

DSM must be secure and protected

Data flowing across borders are the life blood of the programmable world: billions of people, as well as hundreds of billions of physical objects become connected. But technological advancement will only happen in an environment of trust and security. We see network security as a key differentiating factor in global competition, so we welcome policy focus on security.

Cybersecurity initiatives should rely on a truly risk-based approach and a level playing field amongst actors in the value chain. Cybersecurity is a global concern and global solutions are needed to respond to it. Internationally recognized standards and industry best-practices benefit from combined mobile industry’s expertise.

For privacy, DSM should bring a review of the ePrivacy Directive that would narrow the dichotomy between electronic communication service providers and information society services. DSM should promote a free movement of data with appropriate safeguards. We support a revision, not a suspension, of the Safe Harbour agreement between the EU and the US, and efforts to improve its enforcement, ensuring a level playing field between EU and US companies.