Value for money for consumers remains a clear EU strength, while operators’ financial health does not warrant ripping up sector-specific or merger control regulation
Where the EU telecoms sector stands relative to its peers
On 1 October 2026, the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) published its fact finding report on connectivity, competition and regulation in a range of jurisdictions. In the report, BEREC offers its view on where the EU stands internationally in terms of network access, quality, performance and pricing, with the aim of providing an “objective representation” of several measures of competition relevant to the region’s telecoms sector. BEREC has researched, analysed and compared data from several countries – Australia, Canada, China, Japan, South Korea, UK, US – with the EU. It noted that the choice of countries was motivated by their importance in the overall geopolitical context (global positioning) and the strength of the concerned economies (as a share of global GDP), as well as data availability and comparability. BEREC states that its analysis primarily focuses on the most up to date data, although it generally provides trends covering the 2019 to 2024 period.
Some Member States rank among the global leaders on fibre and 5G coverage
According to BEREC, EU fibre coverage rose almost 20 percentage points over the 2021-2024 period, sitting below Japan but above the US. Three Member States (Portugal, Romania, Spain) ranked favourably among global leaders, with coverage in the 93-96% range. While BEREC reports that EU fibre penetration also lags leading Asian countries, including China and South Korea, it again points to several Member States being in the top 20 countries globally on this metric, and some having particularly high adoption rates for 100Mbps services. BEREC states that undertaking a corresponding exercise for mobile broadband networks “proved a difficult task to achieve”, but nevertheless considers that 5G coverage in the EU was comparable to other jurisdictions, with the remaining unconnected areas being “the most difficult and costly to cover”. Regarding the digital divide, BEREC states that the EU compares well with China and the US in terms of the urban/rural 5G coverage gap, with two Member States (Denmark and the Netherlands) having achieved nationwide 5G availability. Similarly, while the EU sits below the OECD average for rural coverage of 100Mbps+ fixed broadband services, Denmark, the Netherlands and Spain are the top three performing OECD countries on this measure.
Pricing is an area where BEREC considers that the EU exhibits a clear advantage, stating that between 2019 and 2022, standalone fixed internet offers in the bloc became increasingly affordable relative to other major jurisdictions. Likewise, prices of 20GB and 50GB mobile broadband tariffs are lower in the EU relative to comparator markets. However, BEREC also highlights a partial trade-off in respect of network quality, with the EU ranking behind other jurisdictions in terms of fixed download speeds, especially when compared with China and the US – albeit with a slightly better performance in terms of upload speeds and latency. The EU also delivers mobile download speeds below the other jurisdictions considered, with a mixed picture when upload speeds are accounted for. BEREC underlines though that there is clear evidence that operators in the EU provide higher value for money than their counterparts in the US.
Consolidation may not translate into more investment, but could push up retail prices
With respect to M&A, it is BEREC’s view that empirical evidence does not indicate that telecoms markets in the EU lack efficiency due to a lack of scale. Competition law or policy also do not appear to be major obstacles to efficient consolidation, with the body citing the conditional approval of Orange/MasMovil in Spain and Three/Vodafone in the UK, and the unconditional clearance of United Group/Wind Hellas in Greece. Pointing to industry examples, such as Vodafone Group’s “rightsizing” of its portfolio and Telefónica’s retrenchment from Latin America, BEREC considers that maximising scale may not be the only relevant factor for operators when considering the management of their operations and that these trends suggest that scale may not have provided the expected benefits, including improved financial performance. The body goes on to assert that there is no clear evidence that an operator enjoying larger scale in the EU would deliver higher investment, which results in more innovation and competitiveness for the bloc. BEREC seeks to back up its claims by highlighting academic research into 29 OECD countries that found that market entry by one additional mobile network operator is associated with a 7% reduction in average revenue per user (ARPU). It also mentions EC analysis, which concluded that consolidation in mobile tends to lead to higher prices for consumers without a discernible positive effect on network rollout.
On average, operators in Europe are in a reasonable position financially
On financial indicators, BEREC’s review has found that operators in Europe have “a positive future”, characterised by expected increases in revenues and lower costs, as the investments over the past decade will lower operational costs and increase profit margins. Despite macroeconomic pressures, operators maintained a stable earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin of around 40% (which is expected to hold steady over the coming years), while return on capital employed (ROCE) has been on the rise for almost all operators, driven in part by the gradual monetisation of recent network deployments. On a forward-looking basis, BEREC also highlights projections of stronger free cashflows, with copper retirement programmes and increased demand for fibre and 5G services supporting rising ARPUs and declining rates of capex and opex. Further, the evidence reviewed suggests that financial markets continue to regard the sector as relatively resilient, as reflected in declining risk indicators and lower perceived systematic risk. BEREC states that research shows that the operators remain financially healthy overall, and therefore provides no financial justification for a “bonfire” of telecoms regulation or merger controls.
