【Text by Observers Network, Qi Qian】

Recently, the European Union has been constantly saying that it cannot fall behind China and the United States, but this has annoyed its own telecom giant.

According to a report by the Financial Times, on November 12th, the CEO of the multinational telecom group "Liberty Global", Mike Fries, criticized the EU, saying, "It talks a good game, but does nothing in reality."

Fries stated at an industry conference that the EU has imposed heavy pressure on the telecom industry for the past 20 years. He also pointed out that the EU has done nothing in implementing the "Draghi Report". "The EU has basically done nothing in practical terms... they have not done anything substantial in spectrum allocation, merger control, and priority growth," he said.

Last September, the EU released the "Draghi Report" proposed by former Italian Prime Minister Draghi, aiming to enhance competitiveness. The report warned that if the EU does not carry out thorough reforms in areas such as merger control and allows the creation of "European champions" in specific fields, it will further lag behind China and the United States.

"We (telecom groups) are critical infrastructure, but you have been choking us for the past 20 years," Fries pointed out. "AI infrastructure is cool... but if the entire system doesn't work, everything fails."

Mike Fries, CEO of "Liberty Global" - British media

"Liberty Global" is a multinational telecommunications company headquartered in the United States. It was formed in 2005 through the merger of the international business department of Liberty Media Group and Universal Communications (UGC). In June 2013, the company spent 2.4 billion dollars to acquire Virgin Media in the UK, entering the European market.

According to the introduction, Fries has led "Liberty Global" since 2005. The company urges EU officials to allow larger-scale integration among operators to promote further investment in mobile networks. Currently, it owns half the shares of British Virgin Media and Dutch telecom group VodafoneZiggo, as well as all the shares of Belgian operator Telenet.

The report mentioned that the EU has always been cautious about telecom industry mergers, fearing that it would lead to price increases and a decline in consumer service quality.

In March this year, the CEO of Spanish Telefónica, Marc Murtaza, stated that without regulatory reform, Europe's global influence will "continue to weaken." Similarly, the CEO of Deutsche Telekom, Tim Hottges, called for the establishment of a "European overseer" to reduce bureaucracy.

After the release of the "Draghi Report," the EU launched a review of merger rules, which is expected to end in 2027. EU Commission President von der Leyen has asked her competition commissioner to speed up the reform work, which has received support from telecom groups, but no changes have been implemented so far.

In his speech on the 12th, Fries clearly expressed his dissatisfaction. He said that the EU delayed the release of the "Digital Networks Act" (DNA), which is another evidence of the EU's stagnation. According to reports, the act aims to promote the modernization of telecom networks and accelerate the deployment of 5G and 6G networks.

The EU responded that the implementation scope of the "Digital Networks Act" is still under discussion.

Actually, European countries have long realized their technological gap with China and the United States, but policy implementation has been stagnant.

This September, Deutsche Bank released a research report stating that Europe is struggling to narrow the innovation gap with China and the United States. The report showed that the follow-up implementation of the "Draghi Report" is disappointing. As of September 4th, only 11.2% of the recommendations had been fully implemented. Even when partially advanced content is taken into account, the progress of the agenda is less than one-third.

At the same time, EU officials and member states have repeatedly made grand statements, unwilling to be left behind by China and the United States. According to a report by Bloomberg, on November 13th, German Chancellor Merkel claimed at a business meeting in Berlin that they will completely exclude Chinese suppliers like Huawei from the country's 6G network construction, while discussing with France how to get rid of dependence on China, the United States, and large tech companies.

Merkel revealed that the German government has already decided that whenever possible, components will be replaced, such as replacing components in 5G networks with domestically produced products, and even claiming that "no components from China will be allowed in the 6G network."

This article is an exclusive contribution by Observers Network. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7572458904060166656/

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