Regulations must be relaxed to allow for investment in next generation broadband

A number of industry officials have urged regulators in the UK and Europe to relax regulations to encourage investment in next generation broadband.

According to a recent report the chief executives of a number of mobile communications giants are urging officials in the UK and Europe to relax regulations so that investment in next generation broadband and communications can be encouraged. Those involved include the bosses of Telefónica, which owns O2 in the UK, the Norwegian company Telenor, and Vodafone.

The bosses made the plea at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona recently, where the Chief Executive of Telefonica stated: “We cannot afford the luxury of not making the telecoms industry the main driver of economic recovery.” He asked for public and private sectors to “take urgent action and to work together, bound by a new spirit of co-operation, in order to create the incentives for investment and foster innovation”.

He added that the billions of pounds that mobile giants could be persuaded to invest in next generation broadband could help to revive global economies, but that this was something that many major govnerment had failed to realise. He went on to state that there needed to be more certainty over regulations to ensure that investors would get a reasonable return on their investment in next generation broadband.

He continued: “We are not asking for public funds. We are only asking for long-term regulatory certainty and stability.” Mobile companies will have to invest billions of pounds to create mobile broadband networks in rural areas in order to see Lord Carter’s Broadband for All programme come to fruition.