The European Commission’s new head of its Defence & Space (DG DEFIX) portfolio has started work. Andrius Kubilius, the former prime minister of Lithuania, assumed office on December 1st. He will work under Ursula von der Leyen who is the continuing president of the Commission. Commissioner Kubilius held a staff meeting on Dec 1 and […]

The European Commission has approved the acquisition of Vodafone Italia by Swisscom under the foreign subsidies regulation in a deal worth €8 billion. Swisscom, the Switzerland-based telco, plans to merge Vodafone Italia with Fastweb, its subsidiary in Italy. “Swisscom has been operating successfully in Italy since the acquisition of Fastweb in 2007. Over this period, […]

Thierry Breton has resigned from his role as European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services in a public dispute with EU Commission president Ursula von der Layen. One source claims he was fired. Breton was also responsible for Europe’s Space & Defence portfolios. Breton, who has held the role since 2019, was vice-chairman and CEO […]

The European Commission (EC) has raised press freedom concerns after Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government was accused of interfering with Italian public broadcaster Rai and silencing critical voices. Věra Jourová, the European Commission vice-president overseeing values and transparency, warned of a funding squeeze and alleged “intimidation” of journalists after unveiling an annual report on the […]

As artificial intelligence continues to develop at speed, the European Commission, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the US Federal Trade Commission and US Department of Justice have signed a joint statement setting out shared principles to protect competition and consumers. The statement affirms their shared view that AI, particularly powerful foundation models, has […]

Telco giant Vodafone is calling for a new Connectivity Union to help accelerate Europe’s digital ambitions and unleash its ability to compete on a global scale. It says that Europe’s future economic success will be underpinned by next-generation connectivity. Only through 5G standalone will European businesses be able to fully capitalise on the industrial value […]

The European VOD Coalition has welcomed the opportunity to provide input to the European Commission’s consultation on the White Paper, How to master Europe’s digital infrastructure needs?. The Coalition brings together video-on-demand and digital entertainment companies that share common values and invest in and distribute audiovisual content in the Europe Union as their core commercial […]

According to ETNO, the voice of Europe’s telecommunications network operators, currently, 76 per cent of European citizens see advanced connectivity as essential in improving their lives and socio-economic prospects, with almost 30 per cent asking to strengthen the availability of high-speed Internet for everyone, everywhere. Accordingly ETNO is urging the new, European leadership to take […]

Last week Germany expressed in no uncertain terms its unhappiness over the EU-backed IRIS² Low Earth Orbiting system which would give Europe’s governments a secure, encrypted satellite fleet and an alternate to Elon Musk’s Starlink broadband system. (IRIS² Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite). The German government strongly opposes IRIS² due to its […]

The European Commission (EC) has fined Apple over €1.8 billion for abusing its dominant position on the market for the distribution of music streaming apps to iPhone and iPad users through its App Store. In particular, the Commission found that Apple applied restrictions on app developers preventing them from informing iOS users about alternative and […]