MEPs today adopted two proposals aiming at widespread reform of telecoms sectors in the EU. ECR MEP Evžen Tošenovský is parliament’s rapporteur on one of the reports on the EU's Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) that will improve cooperation between national telecom regulators.

New telecom rules will boost 5G deployment and maintain independence of national regulators

MEPs today adopted two proposals aiming at widespread reform of telecoms sectors in the EU.

ECR MEP Evžen Tošenovský is parliament’s rapporteur on one of the reports on the EU’s Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) that will improve cooperation between national telecom regulators. The European parliament and Council together rejected the Commission’s attempts to turn BEREC into a single EU agency or even telecoms regulator.

Speaking after the vote Tošenovský said: “The new rules governing BEREC will enable it to take on the new responsibilities while keeping the already well-functioning two-tiered structure.”

“Independence of telecom regulators is critical, both on national and EU level. They need to be independent from their governments as well as from the Commission.” he added.

New provisions in Electronic Communications Code aim at speeding up the roll-out of next generation 5G networks and will also see messaging apps such as Whatsapp regulated in the same way as traditional telecoms services to ensure users have consistent rights.

In addition, a new public warning system will be established to alert members of the public in the event of a large emergency. Such systems can be used to inform people close to an unfolding emergency on the situation and what they should do to remain safe. Parliament’s vote coincides with the 3rd anniversary of the Paris terrorist attacks yesterday (13th November).

Czech MEP Tošenovský, who was simultaneously steering for the ECR Group the negotiations on BEREC on the Code, continued:

“We welcome modernised rules in the Code beneficial for businesses and consumers, including the pro-investment measures that should speed up the roll-out of 5G and coverage of very high capacity networks across Europe.”