Connect Europe comments to the BEREC draft report on infrastructure sharing as a lever for ECN/ECS environmental sustainability

Connect Europe welcomes the BEREC Draft Report on Infrastructure Sharing as a lever for ECN/ECS Environmental Sustainability and its positive stance on operator-led network sharing agreements which are pivotal for telecom operators’ path to reduce carbon emissions.

We welcome BEREC's acknowledgment that the assessment of the environmental impact of policy decisions should be improved, that key barriers need to be identified, and that enhancing knowledge on this issue is important. However, we believe the report lacks robust data and draws some incorrect conclusions. 

It is important to emphasise the preference for voluntary agreements that enhance synergies, rather than imposing obligations that may distort the market. The result of a sustainability action should not be to add new regulatory constraints and burdensome administrative processes for telecom operators while the general trend is to reduce the regulatory burden.

We elaborate more in the paper. For any questions, please contact Xhoana Shehu (shehu@connecteurope.org), Policy Manager at Connect Europe.