As the European Parliament met in Brussels to question the incoming telecom head, Gunther Oettinger, industry leaders convened across town with their own agenda for Europe — one that involves less regulation.
“We need fewer rules that are streamlined toward an investment-friendly climate and a simpler institutional landscape,” Luigi Gambardella, chairman of the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ association, told Bloomberg. “The next EU digital agenda should focus on how to make network investments happen.”
The ETNO Brussels conference lineup on Oct. 1 included some of the biggest names in the business: Verizon Communications CEO Lowell McAdam; Netflix CEO Reed Hastings; Alcatel Lucent CEO Michel Combes; and Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg. However, the closing speaker came from the regulatory side: the outgoing EU telecom head Neelie Kroes.
Earlier in the week, Kroes’ potential successor, Oettinger, was grilled by members of the European Parliament, answering questions — and providing fodder for his critics. Oettinger appeared to support many of the same issues championed by Kroes including limiting roaming fees and net neutrality, neither of which are popular with operators. He also backed the overall effort to create a single telecom market in Europe.
However, some of Oettinger’s most controversial statements involved the celebrity nude photo hacking incidents: “If someone is stupid enough as a celebrity to take a nude photo of themselves and put it online, they surely can’t expect us to protect them,” he said. “Stupidity is something you can only partly save people from.”
Some parliament members said Oettinger’s statements wrongly placed the blame on the victims — and perhaps even more worrisome — showed his lack of understanding about the security issues involved in the hacking.
More telecom news from Europe:
Egyptian billionaire and U.S. exec both eyeing stake in Telecom Italia. Following rumors that Sol Trujillo, the former Telstra CEO, was raising €7.4 billion ($9.6 billion) for a stake in Telecom Italia, Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris expressed renewed interest in the struggling carrier. In 2012, Sawiris had offered €3 billion ($3.78 billion) for a stake in the company, but his offer was rejected. He declined to say how much he might invest this time.
Tele2’s Mobile Norway makes infrastructure deal with Ice Communications Norge. Under the terms of the agreement, Ice will acquire some of Tele2’s mobile infrastructure, but only if TeliaSonera’s plan to purchase Tele2’s Norwegian operations is approved. The Stockholm-based TeliaSonera announced in July that it planned to acquire Tele2 Norway for 5.1 billion Swedish crowns ($710 million).
Telefónica closes E-Plus deal and becomes Germany’s leading mobile operator. The Spanish Telefónica Group announced on Oct. 1 that it had closed the deal worth about €5 billion ($6.3 billion) to acquire KPN’s German subsidiary E-Plus. With the acquisition, Telefónica Deutschland claims the leading position in Germany’s mobile market with 41 million mobile access lines.
Amazon Fire smartphone launches exclusively at Deutsche Telekom. The carrier started offering the new phone to German customers on Sept. 30 for only €1 with one of its plans.
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