Europe urges more mega-dilemma to catch China on Telcos 5G

Barcelona – Europe’s telecom firm is making calls for more industry consolidation to help more effectively compete more effectively with superpowers like the US and China on major technologies such as 5G and Artificial Intelligence.

Last week, at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) trade show in Barcelona, ​​CEOs of several telecom firms asked regulators to make it easier to combine their operations with other businesses and reduce the total number of carriers operating throughout the continent.

Currently, many telco players are working in many European Union countries and in members of the non-European Union such as UK, however, Telco chiefs told CNBC that the situation is unstable, because they are unable to effectively compete effectively when they talk about price and network quality.

“If we are going to invest in technology, then in deep knowledge, and huge changes in Europe, bring positive rigorous changes-as other big technical companies have made in the US or we are looking in China today-we need a scale,” Spanish telecom legend’s CEO Mark Murtra. TelephonicaIn an interview, CNBC told Karen TSO.

“To be able to achieve the scale, we need to strengthen a fragmented market like a telecom market in Europe,” said Mutra. “And for this, we need a regulation that allows us to consolidate. So what we ask is: Please expose us. Give us benefits. We invest in technology and bring productive changes.”

Christel Hedeman, CEO of French carrier orangeSaid that while some mega-sad activity is starting to gather speed in Europe, there is a need to more to guarantee the competition of the continent on the world stage.

Last year, Orange closed a deal to merge her Spanish operations with local mobile network provider Memovil. Meanwhile, recently, the UK competition and Markets Authority approved the merger of £ 15 billion ($ 19 billion) among telecom firms. Vodafone And three in the UK, subject to certain conditions.

“We are actively consolidating in Europe,” Orange’s Heidman told CNBC. “We see things changing now. Still hope.”

However, he said: “I think there is a lot of pressure on our political leaders in Europe from the business environment to find things to change things. But in fact, things have not changed yet.”

During a fiery main address on Monday, German Telco CEO Deushe telecomTim Hottess said that other Telco markets like America and India have shaped only a handful of players.

The US Telco industry dominates its three largest mobile network operators, Verizon, AT and T And T MobileT-Mobile Deuts are majority owned by Telecom.

“We need to improve the competition policy,” Höttges said on stage at MWC. “We must be allowed to strengthen our activities.”

“There is no reason that every market has to work with three or four operators,” he said. “We should build a European single market … because, if we cannot increase our consumer prices, if we cannot charge over-the-top players, we have to get the capacity from the scale we made.”

References to media platforms like “over-the-top” Netflix Bypassing the traditional cable networks, providing materials on the Internet.

From AI to the next generation 5G network, Europe’s telecom firms have invested heavy in new techniques, investing in a bid to take the cables beyond the heritage models, which enable internet connectivity-a business model that earns a pegorative word “dumb pipe”.

However, this expensive attempt of modernization has come together with dull revenue growth and the inability to effectively mud the network for the region is to mudge to the same extent that technology giants have done with the emergence of mobile applications and, recently, generative AI equipment.

In MWC, many mobile network operators talked about their use of AI to improve network quality, to improve their customers and get market share from competitors.

Nevertheless, Europe’s Telco owners say they can accelerate their digital transformation journey if they were allowed to combine with other large multinational players.

“Europe’s industry analyst Luke Keho at Network Intelligence firm Ocla told CNBC last week on the occasion of MWC,” It is now a real focus around European competition. ” “There is a goal to gather policy to improve the telecom network.”

In January, the European Commission, the Executive Body of the European Union, released its so -called “Competition Compass” to MPs of the European Union.

The document, among other things, asks for the revised guidelines to assess the merger so that the intensity of innovation, flexibility and investment investment in some strategic areas is given sufficient weight in light of the intense needs of the European economy. “

Meanwhile, last year, former European Central Bank President Mario Dragi released a long -awaited report that urged radical reforms in the European Union through a new industrial strategy to ensure its competition.

It also says for a new Digital Network Act that will look to create the next generation mobile network for Telcos, reduce compliance costs, improve connectivity for end-users, and to promote the encouragement for radio frequency for the limit of wireless communication in network spectrum, or in the network spectrum.

Keho of Ocla told CNBC, “The general theme and mood music is definitely reducing pre-infusing regulation and to promote what they call a more competitive environment, which is a more favorable environment of consolidation.” “Moving forward, I think there will be more consolidation.”

However, the Telco industry has no way to view the transformational border merger and viewing, Keho said.

For many telco industry analysts, the demand for increased consolidation is not new.

Nick Wilts, CEO of Telco Industry Association TM Forum, said, “European Telco CEOs are never ashamed to call for consolidation and development -friendly regulation.” “But regulation is only one piece of puzzle.”

“In the last 12 months, we have seen a new energy from our members in Europe to achieve the vast task to change themselves: to simplify our operations and inheritance techniques, modernize and automate.”

He said, “This will make it possible for the new customer’s needs and market realities be possible to be faster, whether the creation of a new partnership, undergoing M&A or delaying integrated businesses – all trends we expect to reach new heights in the next 24 months,” he said.