Brussels -- On 10 December, at the occasion of the ecta Regulatory Conference, CEOs of ecta members met with Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager in charge of 'A Europe fit for the Digital Age' and Commissioner for Competition. The delegation included: Mr Carl Grivner, CEO Colt Technology Services; Dr Peter Grüter, CFO Fastweb; Mr Jean-Marc Harion, CEO Play; Mr Maxime Lombardini, Chairman of the Board Iliad; Mr Jan Oetjen, CEO 1&1 Mail & Media Applications SE; Mr Meinrad Spenger, CEO Grupo MásMóvil; Mr Richard Viel, CEO Bouygues Telecom as well as Mr Emmanuel Forest, ecta Chairman and Mr Luc Hindryckx, ecta Director General.

The captains of those operators that drive an accessible Gigabit Society, represent significant investments in NGA networks, demonstrate unique innovation capabilities and provide high quality of service with accessible and transparent offers to the benefit of all Europeans, thanked Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager for her determined action.

They further stressed the importance of ex-ante regulation to ensure a level playing field for all competitors not only in the consumer but also in the business markets that remain highly concentrated. A special attention should be given to non-discriminatory access to shared networks and co-investment agreements, to fair distribution of spectrum, to 5G fixed wireless access as an efficient way to provide UBB services and to the sovereignty of the European Big Data economy and European citizens digital ID.

Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager has confirmed her commitment to promote fair competition conditions in order to develop an accessible European digital economy as fast as possible to the benefit of citizens.

Commenting on the meeting, ecta Chairman Emmanuel Forest observed: " The issue is not to have European champions, no customer has ever asked for that. Customer wants service and innovation, we reiterated our commitment to deliver the best common value for citizens and enterprises. Our EU champions are consumers. We want to empower them with a new generation of technologies."

Luc Hindryckx, ecta Director General, emphasizes: "Only fair competition to the benefit of citizens can make EU fit for the Digital Age

The ecta Regulatory Conference

Once again, the ecta Regulatory Conference that took place on 10 and 11 December 2019 has confirmed its reputation has being the annual meeting place for Europe's digital policy makers. More than 200 registered participants, including 50 representatives of the European Commission attended the two-day event, where keynote speeches were delivered by Dr Roberto Viola, Director General DG Connect, Mr Richard Viel, CEO of Bouygues Telecom, Dan Sjöblom, BEREC Chair 2020, Mr Andreas Geiss, Head of Unit Spectrum Policy, and Ambassador Goran Stefanic, Deputy Permanent Representative of Croatia.

Looking ahead to the mandate of the new European Commission and its ambitions not only to create a Europe fit for the digital age, but also for Europe to become the world's first climate-neutral continent, the ecta Regulatory Conference focused on what the quest for very high capacity networks under the Code implies in terms of:

- continuities and discontinuities with existing rules,

- the balance between services and infrastructure competition, and

- ability to address new challenges of security and sustainability.

Together with the results from the World Radio Communications Conference and reflections on digital competition policy, those themes gave rise to vibrant conversations about strategic development perspectives for Europe as a digital and sustainable continent and the role of digital connectivity for Europe's industrial future.

* * *

ecta members are united in their belief that competition is the best driver of efficient investments and the greatest enabler of innovation, choice and benefits for citizens and businesses, as well as for the European economy overall. This is the key message that ecta and its members promote.

* * *

For further information on the contents of this press release, contact:

Luc Hindryckx, Director General, +32 (2) 290 01 02

Follow ecta's latest news and activities at: @twECTA

.

(C) 2019 M2 COMMUNICATIONS, source M2 PressWIRE