The European Parliament has just adopted the Gigabit Infrastructure Act (GIA), a plan which aims to accelerate the deployment of optical fiber and 5G in Europe, while reducing communications prices within the EU.
Seven years after the end of roaming, which made it possible to completely eliminate data-related costs – and therefore to surf the Internet from your smartphone without any additional costs in Europe, even if there are limitations linked to the number of gigabytes used – the European Union is taking a new step forward towards consumers. Indeed, there remained one area in which operators were able to overcharge their customers: when a call or SMS was sent from the country of residence to a country in the European Union – even if these additional costs were capped.
However, on April 23, the European Parliament approved, with 594 votes for and 7 votes against, a new regulation on high-speed telecommunications infrastructures. Called Gigabit Infrastructure Act (GIA), it aims to accelerate the deployment of optical fiber and 5G, while reducing communications prices within the European Union by removing additional charges for calls and SMS sent between twenty-seven EU member states. These measures will bring us closer to the main objective: connecting all Europeans to very high-speed networks by 2030.
Gigabit Infrastructure Act: facilitating the installation of broadband infrastructure
With the development of the Internet, connected objects and artificial intelligence, Europe is aware that it needs an infrastructure capable of providing high-speed Internet access to the entire territory. However, only 15% of households in the Old Continent have access to 5G, and less than 15% of households have a high-speed subscription of at least one gigabit per second. Also, the European Commission aims to connect 100% of the territory’s citizens to very high capacity networks, that is to say optical fiber and 5G, by 2030.
To accomplish this ambitious objective, the GIA “will reduce expenses related to the deployment of gigabit networks” in order to “boost investment in digital infrastructure, promote economic growth and ensure that European businesses maintain a competitive edge in global innovation”. It also involves harmonizing administrative procedures for granting authorizations in order to accelerate the installation of new telecoms infrastructures, and to reduce costs. “bureaucratic obstacles” for operators and national administrations. In fact, from now on, an administrative authority which does not respond for four months to a request for the installation of a telecommunications infrastructure would be deemed to give its consent. This is what we call THE “principle of tacit approval”. In addition, all extensively renovated buildings and new buildings must be equipped with fiber. As for rural areas in which there is still a coverage problem, “we have introduced measures to accelerate the deployment of very high-speed networks in these regions”has explained Alin Mituta, the rapporteur of the text, during the press conference Tuesday.
End of premium rate calls: relieve users’ bills
In addition to these technical adjustments for the deployment of fiber and 5G networks, the GIA imposes a timetable to reduce the mobile and fixed Internet bill of European users by 2029. In 2017, the roaming regulation removed additional charges on text messages, calls and internet browsing in the European Union when consumers were traveling abroad – when a French person uses their smartphone in the Netherlands, for example. However, additional costs remained when they sent an SMS (€0.06/text) or made a call (€0.19/minute) from their country of origin to another EU country – a French person residing in France which sends an SMS to Spain for example. It turns out that these caps were supposed to expire in May 2024. The adopted text extends them until 2032. In addition, it aims to eliminate these additional fees by 2029. Telecommunications operators will be allowed to reduce their prices by detail from 2025.
“With this regulation, combined with the end of roaming charges, calls to and from anywhere in Europe will be seamlessly aligned with national charges. This is the end of borders for communications “welcomes Alin Mituta. In a way, it is about creating a Schengen area for communications within the European Union. Of course, the text sometimes supplements measures already put in place by certain Member States. This is the case in France, where the Very High Speed Plan has already made it possible to connect the vast majority of households with very high speed. The GIA must now be approved by the European Council, before entering into force three days after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU.