The European Commission will consider the competitive threat posed to telcos by over-the-top (OTT) service providers like Skype and WhatsApp when it adopts new regulations for the sector next year.
According to a draft document reported on by Reuters on Monday, Brussels has acknowledged that online players compete with network operators but are not subject to the same regulatory regime.
"It is necessary to design a fair and future-proof regulatory environment for all services," the document said.
Should OTTs have to comply with the same rules as telcos, then players like Skype would be obliged to offer emergency calling services, for instance.
Europe’s big incumbents have for a long time called on Brussels to ease regulations on telcos in the face of sliding revenues and growing competition from OTT service providers.
Telco revenues are "being cannibalised by OTTs that are asset light and offering a service that is zero-rated…Yet everyone around us is asking us to spend more on infrastructure," said Tim Höttges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom at Mobile World Congress in March.
"We want a level playing field with Internet companies. We don’t want to push them into regulation, but if they’re out of regulation, we want to be out of regulation," he said.
Höttges and his counterparts will doubtless welcome Monday’s news.
According to Reuters, the Commission aims to update its telecoms regulations in 2016. In addition, Andrus Ansip, vice president for the digital single market, is expected in early May to add further detail to the digital single market strategy he outlined in March.
