Vice-President Ansip and Commissioner Gabriel at Telecoms Council to urge progress in spectrum coordination

On Monday, Ministers in charge of Transport, Telecommunications and Energy issues will discuss several key digital and telecoms files. Both Vice-President for Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip and Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Mariya Gabriel are participating in the Council meeting to urge Ministers to progress on key legislation – the European Electronic Communications Code and spectrum coordination. Vice-President Ansip said: “Without coordinated spectrum, we will be lagging behind in deploying 5Gand rolling out IoT solutions. Hence, I welcome the calls from EU leaders to agree on the new telecoms code as soon as possible. We cannot afford losing more time.” Commissioner Gabriel said: “High-speed connectivity and good spectrum coordination are the backbone of the Digital Single Market. Europe has a lot to win with the new telecoms rules. The direct benefits vary from economic growth to improved health care and intelligent energy consumption based on real-time needs.” Other topics touched upon on the Council meeting will be the free flow of non-personal data, future investment policy for digitalisation beyond 2020, and the progress report on the proposed e-Privacy rules. The Council will also adopta general approach on theBEREC Regulation, which will strengthen EU level coordination of electronic communications. The Ministers will additionally be updated on the Council Conclusions and Action Plan on Cybersecurity (see more on cyber security) and the incoming Bulgarian Presidency will present its work programme. More information on spectrum coordination is available in the factsheets on spectrum and connectivity. An overview of the Digital Single Market is available in the state of play factsheet; additional factsheets can be found here.