Europe’s open internet rules were designed for a network that no longer exists.
Today’s networks support cloud systems, industrial automation, emergency services, transport corridors and enterprise applications that depend on guaranteed performance. Treating those services as ordinary internet services creates uncertainty and slows the rollout of new capabilities.
This matters because Europe is trying to build networks fit for a digital economy that depends on performance, resilience and flexibility at scale. The proposed Digital Networks Act (DNA) is a test of whether Europe can protect the open internet while allowing the networks underneath it to evolve.
The stakes are significant. Europe needs around €475bn in mobile network investment over the next decade, but operators are forecast to invest only around €270bn under current conditions, leaving a gap of more than €200bn.¹
If Europe wants both world-class connectivity and a genuinely open internet, it must update how openness is delivered in practice. Strong consumer protections should remain. But modern networks must also be allowed to function as intended.
This is not reopening the debate on paid fast lanes on the public internet. No blocking, throttling or unfair prioritisation of public internet traffic should be permitted.
The reform Europe needs is narrower and more practical. Ordinary internet access – meaning access to content online – must remain open and non-discriminatory for consumers. But there should be clearly separate B2B and enterprise-grade services, governed by commercial agreements.
These services should be outside open internet restrictions where they are genuinely separate from consumer internet access, while maintaining transparency to regulators and consumers.
The internet has changed. Europe’s rules have not
The Open Internet Regulation was designed for a best-efforts internet dominated by web browsing, email and early video streaming, when fixed-line speeds were far lower. Today’s networks carry applications with very different technical requirements, from cloud collaboration to mission-critical industrial systems.
Yet operators still face uncertainty when offering differentiated connectivity – such as enterprise connectivity designed for defined operational needs - even where it is clearly separate from general internet access. That uncertainty has practical consequences.
Across Europe, telecom operators are ready to accelerate investment in 5G Standalone networks capable of network slicing: dedicated virtual lanes on a 5G network for specific use cases. Both the technology and demand exist, but uncertainty over how open internet rules will be applied is slowing deployment.
Europe is already behind on the networks that make this possible. By Q3 2025, 5G standalone coverage reached 63 per cent of Europe’s population, compared with 93 per cent in China and 81 per cent in the United States.²
The businesses most exposed are SMEs. The largest multinationals can buy bespoke private networks, build dedicated systems or negotiate customised connectivity arrangements. Smaller firms usually cannot.
These businesses need reliable, standardised connectivity offers that let them use automation, cloud systems, security tools, connected devices and real-time data without commissioning private infrastructure. SMEs should not need bespoke private networks to access digital tools that larger enterprises can already buy.
Services specifically designed to support SMEs can sit alongside the open internet. But if Europe treats guaranteed-performance services as suspect by default, it will just delay the next generation of industrialisation, productivity and SME digitalisation.
Modern openness needs modern networks
A clearer distinction between internet access and specialised connectivity for businesses would unlock immediate gains and allow operators to maximise the capabilities of modern networks.
Take 5G network slicing for businesses. With clearer rules, operators could dynamically allocate capacity to deliver guaranteed connectivity for manufacturers, ports and logistics hubs, while preserving open internet access for consumers
Or consider connected transport corridors. Autonomous vehicles and intelligent traffic systems require consistent, low-latency connectivity across borders. Today, uncertainty over permissible traffic management makes pan-European deployment harder than necessary. A more predictable framework would support cross-border services.
Consumers would experience fewer service interruptions, more consistent performance and digital services that work more reliably wherever they live, work or travel.
Better certainty encourages stronger investment
The investment problem starts with legal uncertainty over the boundary between internet access and specialised business connectivity. Operators can protect the open internet and offer specialised services, but they need predictable rules on where one ends and the other begins.
Across Europe, investment in fibre, 5G and future 6G networks depends heavily on regulatory certainty. Operators currently face regulatory roulette with the risk that innovative services could later be challenged by inconsistent national interpretations of EU rules.
A service deemed compliant in one member state may be questioned in another. That fragmentation undermines the single market the DNA is meant to complete.
There is also a deeper inconsistency. Europe applies open internet obligations to network operators, even though much of what users experience as internet access is shaped by apps, platforms and device ecosystems outside the scope of those rules.
As the DNA text is negotiated, the test should be practical. The law should protect consumers from unfair discrimination on the public internet, without treating every differentiated enterprise or specialised service as a threat to openness.
That requires three changes.
- First, apply open internet rules explicitly to consumers, not every end-user relationship, preserving protections without constraining enterprise services governed by commercial agreements.
- Second, move from prescriptive restrictions to principles focused on preventing harmful discrimination, supported by transparency and user choice.
- Third, apply open internet principles to all actors that materially shape consumers’ quality of experience, not just network operators.
Taken together, these changes would preserve Europe’s open internet while giving regulators clarity and innovators room to act.
Fairness as a foundation for innovation and investment
Defending the open internet does not mean freezing it in time.
Its purpose is to protect consumers from unfair discrimination when accessing online content, not to prevent improvements in performance, reliability and security.
With clear safeguards, specialised and enterprise-grade services should be allowed where they are separate from internet access and are transparent to consumers and regulators.
Europe needs an updated bargain. It should protect the open internet consumers value, give SMEs access to advanced digital capabilities, and provide the certainty needed to invest in the networks the economy now depends on.
If the DNA gets this right, openness and innovation can reinforce each other. If it does not, Europe risks preserving the internet of yesterday while delaying the services of tomorrow.
FOOTNOTES
1: Mobile investment needs in Europe – GSMA Intelligence / GSMA Europe (May 2026)
2: State of Digital Communications 2026 – Connect Europe & Analysys Mason (Feb 2026)
More stories
