Broadband Archives

Pilar del Castillo, the Spanish centre-right MEP leading negotiations on the EU's new telecoms bill, defends in an interview the European Parliament’s agreement on telecoms competition.

MEPs in the European Parliament’s Industry Committee (ITRE) approved a sweeping telecoms bill on Monday (2 October) that watered down an EU proposal to spur network investment and added a controversial price cap on calls between member states.

Estonia is hosting a summit focused on technology issues this Friday (29 September) but will have to battle for EU leaders’ attention less than one week after the German election, a fresh round of Brexit talks and French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposals on the future of Europe.

Linda Cogruedo Steneberg, Director at the the European Commission's DG Connect , revealed how the EU executive is trying to extend broadband coverage and democratise the internet, as well as protecting our privacy as hacker attacks become more commonplace. EURACTIV Spain reports.

German political parties disagree over whether there should be a new federal ministry overseeing all digital policies after the 24 September election.

MEPs want to put a price cap on calls and text messages from one EU country to another, arguing those rates are outrageously high for many consumers.

Many rural parts of the EU have poor or no broadband internet, even as lawmakers in Brussels discuss new rules to speed up connectivity.

MEPs in charge of a sweeping new telecoms reform want to give national watchdogs new powers to control operators in countries where there is not enough competition.

Sébastien Soriano spoke to EURACTIV about what Yoda can teach us about EU telecoms law, accusations that he is lobbying to change draft rules, net neutrality and the likely new Digital Commissioner Mariya Gabriel.

European mobile phone contracts are required to charge domestic rates for calls, SMS and data use when users travel in the EU starting today (15 June), capping off a ten-year fight to get rid of roaming fees.

Hats off to the European Commission for squeezing two crowd-pleasing stories into one week. Just yesterday, Jean-Claude Juncker celebrated the 1 million 'Erasmus babies' (TMI, really) during a celebration of the programme. Tomorrow the EU wants to score again when it gets rid of mobile roaming fees within Europe.

A new European Commission aid plan promises to channel more development funds into building internet networks in Africa, in the hope that the bloc's fresh privacy and net neutrality rules could become a template for other countries.

European Union legislators agreed yesterday (29 May) to set aside €120 million to provide free wireless internet connections by 2020 to up to 8,000 municipalities in the EU in areas with no internet coverage.

EU countries have changed measures on network investment in a major telecoms bill and are kicking negotiations into the second half of this year.

Belgium has higher mobile phone prices than many other countries in Europe because of the high quality of its network, Dominique Leroy told EURACTIV.com.  Looking forward, she said more spectrum was badly needed to cope with soaring demand for mobile data.

A group of thirteen EU member states have doubled down on a pushback by national governments against the European Commission's proposed changes to radio spectrum policy, arguing it will sweep away their powers to auction off spectrum to telecoms operators.

While capacity and speed will always be important, European companies need networks that are exceptionally reliable and adaptable to launch new technologies across Europe, writes Richard Swinford.

A draft EU telecoms law could cause major economic growth and create jobs, but there is a high risk it could be diluted by the Brussels compromise machine, write Steven Tas and Lise Fuhr.

Digital technologies and communication have the potential to uphold a strong and dynamic internal market fit for the digital age, ultimately making every European citizen’s life much better, writes Antonio López-Istúriz.

As the Mobile World Congress continued, the "father" of Li-Fi said his LED-based wireless connection technology deserves EU support, while Blockchain developers defended the positive impact of the public ledger on society at large.

The European Commission this week will urge EU member states and the private sector to get more involved in the development of the next generation of broadband networks enabling the digital revolution, as the World Mobile Congress opens in Barcelona.

The Slovak Presidency, which made bringing “deliverables” to EU citizens one of its priorities, reached an informal agreement with the European Parliament on the coordinated use of a key frequency band that will allow the introduction of 5G as of 2020.