Brussels: The Digital Networks Act is the Commission’s attempt to rebuild EU telecom law around a single market for connectivity, and the proposal of 21 January 2026 is now moving through Parliament and the Council. It was expected in December 2025 and arrived late, partly because several groups of member states objected. Adoption of a file this size typically takes up to two years.
What the Digital Networks Act replaces
The proposal is a regulation that would merge four existing acts: the 2018 European Electronic Communications Code, the BEREC Regulation, the Radio Spectrum Policy Programme and core parts of the Open Internet Regulation. It also aims to fold in ePrivacy rules. The choice of a regulation is the first political fight, because a group of member states argued in late November 2025 that differences between national markets justify a directive instead.
A regulation binds every capital in identical words. For operators that run networks in several countries, that is the entire attraction of the Digital Networks Act, since they would stop negotiating 27 versions of the same rule.
A single passport for telecom operators
The headline tool is a single passport. An operator could provide networks and services in several member states by notifying only one national regulator, using common BEREC templates in any official language or at least English. National authorities could not demand extra documents beyond the template. In serious cases a breach could affect the right to operate across several countries.
Satellites get a parallel regime. The Digital Networks Act sets a single EU-level authorisation for satellite networks, services and related spectrum, which suits constellation operators that now seek licences country by country.
Spectrum, copper and the 2035 backstop
Spectrum rules are where investors will look first. Rights of use would in principle run without a time limit, with periodic reviews no earlier than every 20 years for certain wireless broadband rights. Where a limit applies, the minimum term for harmonised wireless broadband spectrum would be 40 years, subject to exceptions. Operators have long argued that short licences make heavy network investment risky.
On legacy networks, the Digital Networks Act requires national fibre transition plans and area-based copper switch-off under conditions, user safeguards and regulator oversight, with a 2035 backstop. Resilience also features: a Union Preparedness Plan for Digital Infrastructures, cooperation with ENISA and EU-CyCLONe, and stronger emergency communication duties. The BEREC Office would become an Office for Digital Networks.
What the fair share fight left behind
The most contested idea never made it into the final text. The proposal dropped the so-called fair share mechanism, which would have made large technology firms contribute to network costs. In its place the Digital Networks Act offers voluntary conciliation for IP interconnection disputes, supervised by national regulators. Some technology companies fear that this route could drift towards mandatory network fees, while consumer groups and telecom operators have called the draft unambitious.
What happens next
My assessment is that the Digital Networks Act will survive as a regulation but with more national discretion over spectrum and switch-off dates. Three markers will show the direction: the Council’s first compromise text on regulation versus directive, Parliament’s treatment of the 20-year and 40-year spectrum terms, and any attempt to bring back network contributions through the conciliation clause. Operators want certainty and capitals want control, and the Digital Networks Act will only reach the statute book once those two demands meet.
