MEPs on Tuesday (18 March) backed a proposal to overhaul Europe’s telecoms sector. Yet MEPs appeared to be more interested in bolstering consumer protection than in reforming Europe’s telecoms markets.

The European Union’s telecoms sector is divided into 28 national markets and will need an estimated €110 billion-€170bn of investment by 2020.

In September the European Commission proposed an increase in market integration to boost growth, investment and innovation. But the proposal was given a frosty welcome by Pilar del Castillo, the centre-right Spanish MEP leading the discussions in the Parliament, which scuppered hopes that the new rules could be on the statute book before the European elections in May.

On Tuesday, MEPs in the Parliament’s industry committee voted down several pro-business aspects of the proposal.

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They rebuffed a Commission attempt to win greater regulatory powers at the expense of the body of national regulators, known as BEREC. And they diluted a Commission proposal for a single EU authorisation for telecoms operators.

One Commission proposal that MEPs did back – greater member state co-ordination over auctioning spectrum –has little chance of survival. Industry, including incumbent operators like Orange and mobile operators without any infrastructure, like 3, supports this proposal. But member states want to maintain autonomy, because in their view spectrum auctions are a valuable source of national revenue.

So the telecoms industry is concerned not only that pro-growth elements in the proposal are being watered down, but also that aspects which represent a burden for the industry are being strengthened. The MEPs’ position “deviates from the Commission’s proposal in such a way that it will be growth-restrictive”, warns Luigi Gambardella, chairman of the European Telecommunications Network Operators, an association of incumbents.

A prominent example of this trend is the decision by MEPs to speed up a Commission proposal to ban roaming charges, potentially as early as the end of 2015.

Industry sources point out that the industry is still trying to implement the last roaming reforms, approved only 20 months ago.

Another example is the way MEPs want to amend rules on net neutrality, requiring internet providers to guarantee a uniform quality of internet connection to users, regardless of the content being accessed. Rules of this type risk impeding telecoms companies in their bids to develop consumer services, such as internet TV or gaming, and professional services, such as telemedicine, they say. “The European digital economy will suffer,” warns Gambardella – and by extension, he adds, the wider EU economy as well.