Krakow, Poland – Gathering for their 42nd General Assembly hosted by Orange Polska, senior representatives from ETNO members adopted ETNO’s key priorities for 2013 and called for a new Policy for Growth.

“We face a great challenge of attaining the goals of the Digital Agenda. ETNO supports those goals, but it is clear that investment conditions, including a regulatory environment which encourages investment, are of key importance for profitability. ETNO has therefore welcomed the recent announcement by the European Commission on the need to adapt the regulation of NGA networks. The review of the relevant markets recommendation recently started by the EC represents another key opportunity to adapt regulation to evolving realities.  This is a good occasion for ETNO to express its expectations and propose constructive solutions”, says Marta Brzoza, Regulatory Affairs Director, Orange Polska, General Assembly Chair for 2012.  

With a total turnover of €274.7 billion in 2011, the EU telecoms market has been declining for a third consecutive year and first estimates for 2012 show that this trend is continuing. However, as demonstrated by a recent report by A.T. Kearney for ETNO(1), new value-added offers and business models could result in up to €32 billion additional annual revenue by 2020.

In order for this potential to be realised and for the sector to play its role in driving jobs and growth, ETNO members call for the upcoming EU Recommendations and for the mid-term review of the Commission’s Digital Agenda for Europe to set the conditions for a bold policy framework leading to increasing investments in fixed and mobile high speed broadband infrastructures.

Improving the overall sustainability of the economic model of the Internet is essential to ensure that connectivity providers’ revenues are not disconnected from rapidly increasing data traffic and that all players of the value chain contribute to the huge investment challenges. ETNO calls therefore for a broader dialogue with all other sectors faced with similar concerns in order to achieve a more sustainable economic model for the Internet, and hence improve the EU’s competitiveness on the global scene.

The recent announcement by Vice-President Neelie Kroes on a new regulatory environment for broadband investment has sent an important message to the investors’ community and signalled a new momentum for the sector in EU policy. ETNO members call for the key elements of the announcement to be fully and promptly reflected in upcoming EU legislation.

The future EU policy for growth should allow for:

• A more targeted and investment-friendly regulatory approach enabling operators to develop new business models and differentiated offers;
• The acceleration of the Digital Single Market for online content and services;
• The removal of regulatory obstacles for the development of innovative services in areas such as mobile payments, e-health, smart energy;

Other main highlights from the General Assembly:

Jos Huigen, KPN, Vianney Hennes, Orange and Lotte Abildgaard, Telenor, have been re-elected as members of the Executive Board by the General Assembly.

The General Assembly of ETNO also re-elected Luigi Gambardella, Telecom Italia, as the ETNO Executive Board Chair for 2013.

“Market changes and the EU objectives of growth require a change in the policy mindset: The policy framework, while providing for certainty to all players, should be flexible enough to adapt to market and technological evolution. If the electronic communications industry undergoes important changes in the reference scenario, then policies should be adjusted in order to achieve the long term objectives of industry competitiveness and market growth”, says Luigi Gambardella.

ETNO members also welcomed Etisalat, STC and Syniverse, as new observer members of ETNO.

The 2013 General Assembly will be hosted by Telenor.

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For more information, please contact: Thierry Dieu, ETNO Director for Communications and Public Policy Tel: (32-2) 219 32 42 Fax:  (32-2) 219 64 12 E-mail: dieu@etno.be

ETNO’s 38 member companies and 12 observers from Europe and beyond represent a significant part of total ICT activity in Europe. They account for an aggregate annual turnover of more than €600 billion and employ over 1.6 million people. ETNO companies are the main drivers of broadband and are committed to its continual growth in Europe.