04 Juni Digital Networks Act to Lay the Foundation for the Digital Single Market – Competition-Based Framework Is the Cornerstone of a Future-Proof Telecommunications Landscape
Berlin/Brussels, 4 June 2025. „We welcome the European Commission’s initiative to modernise the European legal framework and further advance the concept of the digital single market with the Digital Networks Act (DNA),“ said Dr. Frederic Ufer, Managing Director of VATM, on the occasion of the European Commission’s consultation on the DNA, launched today.
The DNA, set to replace the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC), presents a great opportunity to make Europe – and Germany – digitally future-ready. In addition to simplifying the legal framework, cutting red tape, and introducing new instruments to accelerate the rollout of 5G and fibre networks, the protection and promotion of dynamic competition in the telecommunications market must be the clear priority. Only under these conditions can the Commission’s rightly ambitious digital goals be achieved and secured over the long term. However, the Commission’s aim to bring about transformative change must not come at the cost of undermining the foundations of the digital single market.
“The digital single market is diverse and vibrant – and it only exists because of the many companies that, since the liberalisation of telecom markets, have ensured provider diversity, innovation, and consumer welfare,” Dr. Ufer cautioned. “If deregulation of dominant companies is now being pursued under the guise of cutting bureaucracy, this risks Europe’s chances of achieving international competitiveness.”
In markets where competition does not function without regulation – such as in Germany, where around 70 percent of all broadband connections still run through Deutsche Telekom’s network – effective regulatory intervention tools must remain available.
Billion-euro investments in digital infrastructure and fierce competition for millions of private and business customers require planning certainty and effective safeguards against abuse of market power. A lean, future-proof and modern legal framework can only function if a broad range of market players can benefit from it. The European Commission – and especially the German government – must therefore clearly affirm their support for a competition-based regulatory approach in the ongoing consultation process.
A concrete risk would be the removal of access obligations based on significant market power (SMP). Such a development would cause serious harm to both consumers and companies, undermine competition, and encourage the re-monopolisation of the market.
“Anyone who truly wants to secure Europe’s digital future,” said Dr. Ufer, “must not dismantle the very instruments that enabled the development of a competitive telecoms market over the past decades. These tools are indispensable for innovation, investment, and fair access.”
Only a clearly defined, SMP-based regulatory framework can provide long-term investment certainty, innovative strength, and consumer choice.
