Deutsche Telekom CEO criticises EU telecom rules overhaul

By Emanuele Berro and Danny Callaghan

Feb 26 (Reuters) – Deutsche Telekom chief executive Timotheus Hoettges expressed dissatisfaction with how the European Union is handling the reform of telecommunication sector rules and called for more deregulation.

“We’re seeing more and more red tape, more requirements,” he said during a press conference after the publication of the company’s fourth-quarter results. “We did not find any answers”.

Following several months of pressure from European telecom companies, the European Commission unveiled in January a major revamp of the sector rules known as the Digital Networks Act.

The proposal would allow operators to use radio spectrum for an unlimited duration, a move which would increase predictability and favour investments, the Commission said.

However, it did not meet the European operators’ call for U.S. tech giants such as Google, Netflix and Meta to pay a network fee in light of their significantly large traffic, opting for a voluntary cooperation mechanism.

“We’re very disappointed with regulation in Europe,” said Dominique Leroy, the head of Deutsche Telekom’s Europe segment, adding that the only positive aspect of the EU Commission proposal was the extension of spectrum, but that there was no mention of an additional fee for U.S. hyperscalers.

“We’ve always said we do not want to have ex-ante but ex-post regulation,” Leroy added.

However, Hoettges cast doubt on the spectrum extension happening, describing the proposal as designed to give “a little bit of hope” to the telecoms industry.

(Reporting by Emanuele Berro and Danny Callaghan, Editing by Friederike Heine and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)