On September 23rd, the Financial Times, in partnership with Connect Europe, hosted the annual FT Connect Europe Forum 2025, bringing together leaders from the European telecommunications industry and policymakers at a pivotal moment for the sector. With the Digital Networks Act in development and EU Merger Guidelines under review, the forum sparked timely discussion under this year’s theme “Europe’s race for Digital competitiveness”.
The discussions emphasised the urgent need to implement Mario Draghi’s recommendations, highlighting the industry’s call for greater scale and regulatory shift towards investment and innovation, crucial to securing Europe’s digital competitiveness, resilience and sovereignty on the global stage.
Europe needs scale, execution and a clear strategy to stay in the Digital Race
In the leaders’ panel “Aligning on innovation, investment and collaboration”, Telefónica’s Chairman and CEO, Marc Murtra, highlighted a critical weakness in Europe’s digital landscape: The lack of companies with the sufficient scale to invest in key digital products. Today Europe remains heavily reliant on non-EU digital technologies, from cybersecurity to search engines, hyperscalers or operating systems, widening vulnerabilities and posing risks to productivity, he warned.
He emphasized that allowing consolidation in the telecom sector is the way forward, enabling the industry to establish a social contract unlocks the benefits of providing operators with the scale needed to invest, attract talent, and think in the long run.
While acknowledging the political complexity of the European Union and the many stakeholders, from consumers to national governments, regulators and EU institutions, he stressed that “a strategy without implementation is of very little use”, calling for a clear direction and, above all, execution.
Although Telefónica will unveil its strategy at the Capital Markets’ Day on November 4, Mr. Murtra highlighted three key investment priorities:
- Consolidation for more efficient and sustainable network economics, aligning market structure to support long-term investment.
- Simplification and focus by reducing legacy complexity to seize strategic opportunities.
- Cybersecurity supply-side scale backed by sovereign demand to build European capabilities.
Telecom leaders commit to tech leadership for a competitive and secure Europe
The FT Connect Europe Forum 2025 discussions revealed a strong alignment across sectors on the urgent need for structural change, regulatory reform, and strategic investment to secure Europe’s position in the global tech landscape.
Alessandro Gropelli, director general Connect Europe, underscored the telecom sector’s strategic role in competitiveness, citing Mario Draghi’s quote on the enabling technologies behind AI:
“AI is a transformational technology like electricity 140 years ago, but it depends on the orchestration of at list 4 technologies: Cloud to store vast data, supercomputing to process it, cyber to protect it and advanced networks, like 5g, fibre, satellites for transmission.”
Aligned with this vision, he announced a joint statement signed by the telecom operators participating in the FT Connect Europe Forum, including Telefonica, A1, Deutsche Telekom, Meo, Orange, Telenor, TIM and Vodafone. In the statement the operators commit to supporting Europe’s ambition to lead in AI, be in control of strategic infrastructures and drive network-enabled innovation.
Economic growth and modern defence rely on robust connectivity, making investment in gigabit networks essential. Mr. Gropelli emphasized that true implementation of Draghi’s recommendations requires enabling telecom consolidation, creating investment incentives for fibre instead of outdated ex-ante rules designed for legacy copper networks, simplifying and harmonising regulation, and ensuring a level playing field between telecoms and dominant tech platforms.
Using tools like the Digital Networks Act and the EU Merger Guidelines review, he called for moving beyond rhetoric toward decisive action.
Industry leaders and investors showed a broad consensus that market consolidation is essential to unlock efficiencies, attract investment and support next-generation technologies like 5G and AI. Evidence from recent telecom consolidations, like in Brazil and India, shows positive outcomes, including lower prices and increased investment capability, they said.
European policymakers acknowledge urgency for a faster, simpler regulatory environment
However, current regulatory frameworks are seen as major barriers. Industry voices call for rapid review of EU Merger Guidelines, and a shift from ex-ante to ex-post market oversight to foster innovation.
On the policymaker’s side, leaders like Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President, Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, agreed that the EU’s telecom rules form the foundation of all digital regulations but urgently need reform to keep pace with evolving markets.
On consolidation, they support more flexibility where justified by business cases, striking a balance between scale, competition and consumer choice.
In terms of digital sovereignty, AI, quantum computing, cybersecurity, spectrum and networks were identified as strategic assets requiring targeted investment and a simpler and faster regulatory environment to drive resilience and innovation.
The message throughout the event was clear: If Europe wants to be better positioned in the race for digital competitiveness, it must now act not only with ambition but with urgency.
