European Union: Adopted ITRE position on Gigabit Infrastructure Act

On 19 September 2023, the Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE) of the EU Parliament adopted its position on the proposal for Regulation on measures to reduce the cost of deploying gigabit electronic communications networks (Gigabit Infrastructure Act), which aims to facilitate and stimulate the implementation of very high capacity networks by promoting the joint use of existing physical infrastructure and by enabling a more efficient deployment of new physical infrastructure so that the networks can be rolled out faster and at a lower cost. The Gigabit Infrastructure Act aims to ensure faster, more reliable, data-intense connectivity and would replace the Broadband Cost Reduction Directive (2014). Under the ITRE position, the period of time in which the authorities have to grant a permit is cut down to two months and abolishes fees for end-users for intra-EU calls and SMS. The proposal now goes to the EU Parliament plenary vote, following which the negotiations with the Council will start.