TELECOMS
EIR'S 2013-2014 Universal Service Funding Application
ComReg is consulting until 9 April 2025 on Eir's application for funding in respect of the net costs of meeting its universal service obligations during its financial year 2013-2014. ComReg is obliged to assess this application to determine whether any net cost represents an unfair burden on Eir. Following consideration of responses, ComReg will make a decision regarding the unfair burden assessment for 2013-2014.
Broadcasting Transmission Services
ComReg is consulting until 11 April 2025 on its analysis of the wholesale broadcasting transmission services markets with a view to determining whether any Service Provider has significant market power within them and, if so, imposing appropriate remedies on such Service Providers.
Spectrum Intelligence and Investigations publishes Key Statistics
ComReg's Spectrum Intelligence & Investigations unit publishes its key activities and associated KPIs annually. This summary provides additional context and insights in relation to radio frequency interference and spectrum compliance activities.
Mobile World Conference 2025: Telecoms and AI CEOs renew calls for consolidation in Europe
Telecommunications leaders attending Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last week called for consolidation of the industry to keep it competitive in Europe. Marc Murtra, the CEO and chairman of Spain's Telefónica, called in an early keynote of the conference for large telecommunications companies "to be allowed to consolidate and grow to create technological capacity". This reiterates the message the telecom bosses had at the Mobile World Conference last year, according to Bloomberg, but this year's call comes as Europe considers how to compete with China and address its dependency on US technologies.
CYBERSECURITY
NIS2 Directive: Digital Infrastructure Sectors face Challenges
The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity published its first NIS360 report identifying areas for improvement and tracking progress across NIS2 Directive sectors. The telecoms sector, along with electricity and banking, are mentioned as having the highest level of maturity, having been subject to significant regulatory oversight, global investment, political focus, and robust public-private partnerships.
Digital infrastructure sectors, such as core internet, trust services, data centre and cloud services, are also among the higher-ranking sectors in terms of maturity and criticality.
Digital infrastructure sectors face challenges in aligning to NIS2 requirements due to their composition, with both small and larger, more established organisations, and their cross-border nature. Additional challenges arise due to the inclusion in scope of previously unregulated entities, for whom the NIS2 requirements are entirely new, and the capacity of national authorities to oversee markets with which they are often unfamiliar. The report proposes areas of improvement/interventions to help further develop the cyber maturity of these sectors.
This article contains a general summary of developments and is not a complete or definitive statement of the law. Specific legal advice should be obtained where appropriate.
