EU digital commissioner Günther Oettinger wants to create a single market for digital services in Europe to gain more weight in the competition with the United States and Asia.
National borders have to be lifted to strengthen the digital competitiveness of European companies, Oettinger said at the Broadband Congress 2015 of German cable operator association FRK in Leipzig.
As examples he cited cross-border solutions regarding frequency allocations and harmonised copyright and data protection laws. These laws would not only have to be respected by European, but also by foreign companies wanting to offer their services in EU countries, stressed Oettinger.
Regarding roaming charges, the European Commission already achieved its goal of a single European market. From June 15, 2017 the surcharge for mobile phone usage in other EU countries will be dropped: The consumer’s domestic tariff will then also apply abroad.
The further discussion rounds at the congress focused on the expansion of broadband networks in Germany, subsidies and business models as well as changes in media consumption.
The participants agreed that the internet data rate of 50Mbps the government wants to achieve for all households throughout Germany by 2018 will by far not sufficiently cover future bandwidth needs.
With HD streaming on several TV sets within a household, Ultra HD movies on video-on-demand services and self-driving cars in which passengers pass the time by watching films and series from Netflix, maxdome and other streaming services, the first usage scenarios for high-speed internet emerge, not just in cities, but also in rural areas.
