EU: Google says EU needs a single telco regulator

Europe needs a single telco regulator if over-the-top providers are to flourish across the continent, Google’s public policy manager of EMEA, Theo Bertram, has said.

Speaking at a Westminster Forum event Bertram said the long awaited update to European Telecommunications Framework must take into account OTTs, of which Google is one.

“Every successful OTT needs to be global, they can’t be local. The challenge for European start-ups and developers… is if we start making it harder to scale up won’t compete globally,” he said.

“We don’t have one regulator across Europe… and it is harder to argue country-by-country regulations is going to be good for the economy.”

His remarks follow calls by two EU committees last month that that the EU’s telecoms market should be regulated by a single authority.

Bertram said that unlike traditional telcos, Google faces a greater regulatory burden.

“I want to dispel the myth that we are unregulated. We have many regulations that bear down on us.” He named compliance with right to be forgotten and obligations on privacy and data.

Asked to name the biggest regulatory hurdle facing the company he said: “It is much less about UK regulation, and increasingly about European regulations. The telecoms frameworks is a challenge.”

Full content: The Register

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