Technology and the shifting boundaries of regulation and competition in the EU telecommunications sector

Abstract

The chapter reviews some recent tensions emerging at the interface between telecommunications regulation and competition policy as a consequence of recent technological developments. We focus on the principle of technological neutrality, the regulatory and competition policy treatment of co-investment agreements, the regulatory relationship between fixed and mobile networks and the novel interpretation of network neutrality. The analysis highlights the novel complexities emerging from the fact that the availability of new technologies such as very high capacity networks (VHCN) and 5G/6G has triggered the explicit inclusion of the aim to stimulate investment in advanced connectivity solutions among the objectives of regulation. We suggest that these complexities should be acknowledged and addressed through greater institutional coordination – the same sort of coordination that has characterized the drafting of the original 2002 telecommunications regulatory framework.