EC’s Breton: ‘We can lead connectivity revolution’
February 27, 2023
By Colin Mann
Thierry Breton, Commissioner for the Internal Market at the European Commission, has suggested that Europe has all it takes to lead the connectivity revolution.
Delivering a Keynote Speech at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, he told delegates that “this is where the vision of the future of connectivity becomes reality, with all the newest technologies of the future within the reach of our hands, suggesting this was “a defining moment for our connectivity and our digital transformation overall”, telling them they all had a key role to play.
Looking ahead, he predicted that the Web 4.0 would be at the service of people. “Users will interact more directly with each other and with digital content. Everyone will be able to contribute to their own personalised online experience, which will be more immersive and intuitive. We expect the Web 4.0 to be enabled by virtual reality and augmented reality technologies and the ‘symbiotic’ interaction between humans and machines.”
“To support this, the future connectivity network will be a blend of transmission, storage and computing all together. Like a ‘computing continuum’, thanks to edge and swarm computing technologies. The infrastructure of the future will connect earth networks (fibre, 5G and 6G – linked across all corners of the planet thanks to submarine cables) with space and with our satellite networks,” he said.
“Today’s networks do not allow such seamless integration of peer-to-peer computing. Even when using modern Content Delivery Networks, we still see delays of over 200 milliseconds, which are not sufficient to avoid accidents between interconnected cars or to cater for 3D rendering of your virtual visit to the Sagrada Familia. We therefore need low latency, fast calculations and interoperability,” he stated, suggesting that the networks of today are simply not up to date with the massive transformation taking place.
“A huge paradigm shift is taking place, and Europe must and can play a leading role in it – if we embrace this change together,” he declared.
“The connectivity revolution is putting the traditional model of vertical integration into question. The digital industry will have to move towards decentralisation and interoperability, focusing on developing open, interoperable systems enabling different devices and applications to work together to create a more connected and efficient world. Intelligent buildings will communicate with security systems, energy management, and building automation. Connected cars will communicate with traffic management systems, roadside sensors, and other cars on the road,” he said.
“Here at the Congress, telcos are demonstrating that they are on their way to become service platform providers enabling industrial applications and high-quality consumer apps through tailor-made Application Programming Interfaces. They do this in cooperation with innovators and the whole ICT ecosystem. In a nutshell, we are seeing telco operators turning their business from being mere connectivity providers to becoming network-as-a-service providers or even innovative software providers,” he noted. “Now is a critical moment to step back and reflect on how this connectivity revolution will impact our infrastructure needs, our investments, our regulatory frameworks.” .
“Just a few days ago, we launched a broad consultation on the future of the connectivity sector and its infrastructure,” he advised. “Seeking your views about the technological and market developments underway, including their impact on future networks, business models and consumers. Asking about barriers to the Single Market, about how we use scare resources such as spectrum and more generally about the scale of investments needed for our networks.”
Commenting on the much-debated issue of ‘fair share’, he said the consultation had been described by many as the battle over fair share between Big Telco and Big Tech. “A binary choice between those who provide networks today and those who feed them with the traffic.”
“That is not how I see things,” he admitted. “Yes, we will need to find a financing model for the huge investments needed that respects and preserves the fundamental elements of our European acquis: the freedom of choice of the end-user as ensured by our rules on net neutrality; the freedom of offering services in a fair, competitive level playing field, guaranteed today with our new ground-breaking digital regulations – the DSA and DMA.”
For Breton, the real challenge is to make sure that by 2030 fellow citizens and business on streets across the EU have access to fast, reliable and data-intense Gigabit connectivity. “And for that we need the connectivity networks – highways – of the future,” he stated. “That is the vision. It is not about whether one vested interest should prevail over another. It is about achieving the giant leap for connectivity ahead of us.
In conclusion, he said that every time there has been a major technological revolution, Europe has been there, “and this time, I want Europe to be there too. We simply cannot afford missing our chance to lead the technological revolution we are experiencing in the connectivity sector and to craft it as a European revolution. Having this in mind, I would like to conclude with a message of confidence. We have been there at the very start of the connectivity sector that we have today, which started with the GSM standard. The ‘world wide web’ was partly invented in Europe, and WiFi relies on technologies that Europe largely contributed to create. We have excellence in research and innovation, and we are ready to lead the 6G race. We have talented engineers. And we have a vision. Europe has all it takes to lead the connectivity revolution.”