Europe risks falling behind without telecom scale, Telefónica says
EU competition policy is central to Telefónica’s call for reform.
Telefónica has called for a shift in Europe’s telecommunications policy, arguing that market fragmentation is undermining investment, digital competitiveness, and the continent’s technological sovereignty, according to a new blog post from the company.
In the post, Telefónica says Europe’s emphasis on maximising retail competition has produced a highly fragmented operator landscape. It cites industry data showing the average European operator serves around five million customers, far fewer than peers in the United States or China.
The company argues that this lack of scale explains Europe’s lower per-capita investment in telecoms infrastructure and is slowing the rollout of technologies such as standalone 5G, fibre networks, and sovereign cloud and AI platforms.
Telefónica points to recent reports by Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta as signs of a policy shift, with EU institutions placing greater weight on investment capacity, resilience, and dynamic efficiency alongside traditional competition objectives.
The blog post concludes that Europe faces a strategic choice between preserving fragmented markets or enabling responsible consolidation. Telefónica says carefully regulated mergers could support sustainability, reduce regional digital divides, and strengthen Europe’s digital infrastructure.
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