Thinking big for a better society

Digitalisation is a force for good and a source of happiness. Many of the societal or economic problems that we face have a digital solution. Digital connectivity is at the heart of industrial growth, renewable energy, efficient agriculture, rural regeneration and much more.

Even Spot, our robotic dog powered by its own 5G-enabling mobile private network (MPN), proved itself to be a force for good when it brought a smile to people’s faces at State of Europe recently. Spot was visiting the event, but you can usually find him 3D scanning on construction sites, checking safety measures for inspections or access to disaster areas, or working hard to reduce direct contact risks powering telemedicine for infectious diseases.

To realise the solutions that technologies like Spot can enable for our society and ensure that digitalisation is a force for good, we must think big.

Thinking big means unleashing the power of Europe’s single market. The EU needs to complete the digital single market through maximum harmonisation and by allowing operators to benefit from the scale that is necessary to invest in digital infrastructure. This will create jobs, stimulate growth, unlock innovation and allow Europe to harness its potential as a technology leader.

We need to think cross-border and cross-market to enable digitalisation to release its magic. The issues are not just about the fragmentation of the single market by geography but also about the way markets are viewed. We should not be talking about individual markets for fixed broadband, social media and satellite connectivity. We should be talking about the whole digital ecosystem.

Everything is interacting and interconnected. We need governments to work like that too.

The digital ecosystem means that, as a significant telecoms and technology company in Europe, Vodafone must both compete and collaborate. Such competition and collaboration must be held in a very delicate balance. Otherwise, the ecosystem will start to weaken itself to the point where it is completely undermined. That’s why we are concerned about the state of connectivity across the EU that underpins the entire digital ecosystem. It’s not at the level it needs to be.

Other parts of the world are forging ahead. Not one of the top ten countries in the world for 5G availability is European. This should not be the case, but it is a symptom of overregulation that ultimately hurts consumers, just as it does businesses.

What we need from governments to ensure the success of the digital ecosystem is a participative approach. We already have some bold and ambitious targets such as the Digital Decade targets set by the European Commission. However, it’s not just about where we want to get to, but how we get there.

Predictability and certainty are key on the journey to success for citizens and businesses. This is what everyone involved in the digital ecosystem needs right now if we are to meet the Digital Decade targets and ensure a better society.

As an industry, we have a substantive communications code in Europe but over and above that are substantial additional obligations or rule changes, which seem to come in every month. Each initiative may make sense in itself but these need to be done in a framework that is cohesive and coherent. Without that framework, businesses like ours and their investors will be reluctant to invest. If there is a lack of predictability and certainty, we will face a reluctance to commit to future investments.

Europe needs a joined-up regulatory, policy and investment approach that restores the failing investment climate and puts the telecoms sector back on stable footing.  Governments and policymakers need to come together and be realistic about how we’re going to reach our digital targets and provide a more consistent, certain and predictable investment environment to enable us to get there.

Digitalisation is emerging as the key enabler to build resilience and competitiveness for Europe. New digital technologies could amount to a €2.2tn GDP contribution to the EU by 2030. Delivering fast connectivity to EU rural areas to provide 99% availability in each EU member state could lead to a cumulative increase in GDP of €192bn over the next decade and 340,000 more jobs by 2030.

However, for these benefits to be realised, the EU’s ambition must shift towards coherence, harmonisation, implementation and enforcement. This would create the right conditions for prosperity and security without lapsing into micromanaging industry.

Europe can, through radical regulatory change, regain the lead in this strategic sector. We want to meet the expectations of our citizens and businesses to create a better society using digital solutions. We need to think big to enable that to happen.

This article is a contribution from a member or partner organisation of Friends of Europe. The views expressed in this #CriticalThinking article reflect those of the author(s) and not of Friends of Europe.