{"id":723158,"date":"2026-01-27T01:57:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T01:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/723158\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T01:57:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T01:57:10","slug":"eu-commission-announces-digital-networks-act-proposal-techuk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/723158\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Commission Announces Digital Networks Act Proposal | techUK"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 21 January, the EU Commission published its much\u00a0anticipated\u00a0Digital Networks Act<\/a>\u00a0(DNA). The Act\u00a0aims to update the EU\u2019s\u00a0network rules to further enable innovative technology like AI and Cloud.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Resilience and preparedness\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Resilience and Preparedness in its proposal, the European Commission considers that, given the essential role of networks in the functioning of society and the economy, obligations and cooperation mechanisms must be\u00a0established\u00a0to ensure the availability and capabilities of networks and services during major crises. The proposal provides for the adoption of a report by BEREC (the EU agency for electronic communications) titled the \u2018Union Preparedness Plan for Digital Infrastructures\u2019.\u00a0This report will include an assessment, common operational recommendations, and crisis management practices; it will also clarify the respective roles of EU bodies and national competent authorities\u00a0regarding\u00a0monitoring, coordination, and response.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Passporting and cooperation\u00a0<\/p>\n

The proposal puts forward the creation of a \u2018single passport\u2019 system for electronic communication services. This means that once a company receives authorisation from one relevant EU Member State authority to conduct business, it\u00a0is able to\u00a0operate\u00a0across all other Member States. The Act also aims to prioritise security and coordination,\u00a0saying\u00a0that national regulators, the European Commission, and groups such as BEREC will work together to ensure rules are applied in a coherent and harmonised way across the EU. This will be supplemented by \u2018clear guidelines\u2019 produced by BEREC, designed to clarify how companies and government authorities should interact with one another.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Resources\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Act\u00a0identifies\u00a0radio spectrum and numbering as \u2018strategic public goods\u2019 and\u00a0seeks\u00a0to\u00a0establish\u00a0common principles and\u00a0objectives\u00a0for coordinated strategic planning and management at the EU level. It also announces the future creation of an EU spectrum strategy and roadmaps to provide predictability and ensure \u2018alignment with wider EU policy\u00a0objectives\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Much of this coordination and harmonisation is achieved through the establishment of EU-wide tools, such as the \u2018spectrum single market procedure\u2019,\u00a0common authorisation\u00a0conditions, \u2018one-stop-shop\u2019 procedures, and EU authorisations\u00a0(including a specific framework for satellite networks and services). Specifically, the legislation\u00a0seeks\u00a0to\u00a0establish\u00a0EU-level authorisations for satellite spectrum. In parallel, it provides a new framework for pan-European numbering resources and sets out rules governing their management.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Phasing out copper\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The European Commission aims to\u00a0establish\u00a0a framework for the transition from legacy copper networks to fibre. This transition will be implemented through national plans that detail which areas will have copper switched off, the specific timeline for doing so, and the measures in place to support the migration to fibre.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Access\u00a0to land\u00a0and SMP\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

A central feature of the Digital Networks Act is the explicitly operator-neutral design of the Significant Market Power (SMP) regime. The European Commission intends to prioritise \u2018investment-friendly\u2019 rules and promote the harmonisation of access products. To stimulate fibre take-up, the rules will\u00a0maintain\u00a0the right to access in-building wiring upon request. Additionally, the DNA will empower national regulatory authorities to use symmetric measures to tackle local bottlenecks by imposing access requirements on local fibre networks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rights for end-users\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The legislation guarantees all EU citizens\u00a0(particularly those with low incomes or disabilities)\u00a0the right to affordable, \u2018adequate\u2019 internet and voice communication services. Rather than leaving the definition of \u2018adequate\u2019 to chance, the Act\u00a0establishes\u00a0a standardised EU-wide process for Member States to\u00a0determine\u00a0the\u00a0minimum\u00a0bandwidth consumers should enjoy. Furthermore, aside from strictly defined exceptions, the legislation reinforces net neutrality principles by guaranteeing end-users the right to access and distribute content, and to use the applications and terminal equipment of their choice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Governance\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finally, the DNA aims to further\u00a0consolidate\u00a0EU-level governance by integrating and strengthening the roles of BEREC, RSPB, and the ODN.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Points of interest\u00a0<\/p>\n

The primary issue that both telecom operators and\u00a0online service providers, such as Google and Netflix, were awaiting was whether the European Commission would introduce fees on the latter to help fund the networks that carry their data. This proved not to be the case,\u00a0much to the disappointment of some telecoms operators<\/a>. Instead, the Commission decided to introduce a\u00a0voluntary conciliation mechanism\u00a0to resolve\u00a0disputes.\u00a0This mechanism has displeased both\u00a0groups with telecom operators calling to make it mandatory and\u00a0online platforms finding it unnecessary altogether<\/a>, arguing that cooperation between online service providers and telecom operators is already a reality, making the new system redundant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The decision on whether to introduce network fees is also influenced by the currently strained relationship between the EU and the US. Indeed, as part of a US-EU trade deal in late August 2025, the EU committed (under point 17)\u00a0not to introduce network fees<\/a>. However, the recent decision by the European Parliament\u2019s INTA committee to\u00a0suspend the deal until \u201cGreenland threats cease\u201d<\/a>\u00a0may yet affect the ongoing discussion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Next steps\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The proposal will now be sent to EU Member States and the European Parliament, where both sides will need to\u202festablish\u202ftheir negotiating positions before beginning interinstitutional negotiations and agreeing on\u202fa final version\u202fof the text. Do not hesitate to reach out to\u202ftechUK\u202fshould you have any questions on the proposal.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On 21 January, the EU Commission published its much\u00a0anticipated\u00a0Digital Networks Act\u00a0(DNA). The Act\u00a0aims to update the EU\u2019s\u00a0network rules…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[9873,70981,323,33049,78925,215645,27861,3677,3908,2000,299,5187,51925,53389,66005,5111,150928,8720,52447,8183,33476],"class_list":{"0":"post-723158","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-access","9":"tag-additionally","10":"tag-ai","11":"tag-announces","12":"tag-august","13":"tag-berec","14":"tag-commission","15":"tag-digital","16":"tag-dna","17":"tag-eu","18":"tag-europe","19":"tag-european","20":"tag-january","21":"tag-member","22":"tag-networks","23":"tag-parliament","24":"tag-preparedness","25":"tag-resilience","26":"tag-smp","27":"tag-states","28":"tag-techuk"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115964585134741580","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=723158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=723158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=723158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=723158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}