Infrastructure Act

EU wants to accelerate the expansion of fiber optics

(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

The EU Parliament has approved the Gigabit Infrastructure Act in Strasbourg. The new law aims to strengthen existing digital infrastructures and the expansion of fiber optics in Europe. A good network infrastructure should improve the seamless connection of devices from smartphones to supercomputers and benefit consumers and companies. High costs for expansion should be reduced and approval procedures simplified.

This should speed up the expansion of networks and ensure more competition. Smaller telecommunications providers should also be able to make better use of existing networks. In February 2023, the European Commission presented its proposal for a regulation to reduce the costs of expanding gigabit networks for electronic communications. The law was approved with 594 votes in favor, seven MEPs voted against and 15 abstained. Austria's representatives in parliament voted unanimously in favor.

"Today we are putting an end to poor internet connections and dead spots. Fast internet should no longer be a luxury, as it is now essential in many areas of our daily lives. With the EU Gigabit Infrastructure Act, we have laid the foundation for faster and easier fiber optic expansion throughout Europe," said Angelika Winzig, ÖVP delegation leader and chief negotiator of the European People's Party for the law.

Winzig emphasized to journalists in Strasbourg that from 2029 there will no longer be any additional costs for calls to another EU country: "At the moment we have the paradoxical situation that you can call home from other EU countries without additional costs, but you still pay for calls from Austria to other EU countries. This simply no longer fits in with the reality of our lives."

The regulation still has to be officially adopted by the Council (of Member States) and published in the Official Journal of the EU. It will enter into force 20 days after this publication.