A Strategic Alliance for the Future of Digital Communications in Europe
What’s at Stake?
European leaders have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to modernise how digital communications are regulated in Europe. The European Commission’s proposed Digital Networks Act (DNA) will redefine the regulatory framework for digital communications services, making it crucial to establish new fit-for-purpose rules.
The DNA aims to replace the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC) with a directly applicable Regulation, fundamentally reshaping how communications infrastructure and services operate across the Single Market.
For companies building modern communications platforms – ranging from cloud communications, Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS), messaging, voice, and API-based services, to cutting-edge digitally enabled infrastructure providers – the outcome of this legislative process will have significant long-term consequences.
Key issues likely to be addressed include:
• Harmonisation of rules and the modernisation of the highly fragmented EECC framework
• Cross-border authorisation and access frameworks
• Numbering rules, direct and sub-assignment, and the harmonisation of KYC requirements
• Technology neutrality, removing subjectivity and use-case discrimination from the process
• Fraud prevention and trust frameworks, including branded calling
• Regulatory scope for digital communications services
The legislative process now underway will determine the rules governing the sector for the next decade and beyond.
Who Are the CIC Partners?
CIC partners are some of the world’s most innovative communications service providers. Many innovative communications companies face similar regulatory challenges, but engagement in Brussels often occurs in fragmented or company-specific ways.
The Coalition of Innovators in Communication (CIC) creates a focused platform for companies at the forefront of digital communications to:
• Share policy intelligence, insight, and regulatory analysis
• Coordinate engagement with EU policymakers
• Contribute technical expertise to the legislative process
• Advocate for proportionate, innovation-friendly, and fraud-mindful regulation
The coalition’s core objective is simple: Ensure that the Digital Networks Act supports growth, productivity, innovation, and end-user protection in Europe’s digital communications ecosystem.
Acting as the CIC’s secretariat, the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA Europe) helps unite* a new generation of innovative businesses around an ambitious goal: building a truly integrated Single Market for telecommunications and taking on emerging challenges that have, until now, been largely overlooked.
Digital Networks Act Policy Principles
The CIC stands for simple improvements to the Digital Networks Act (DNA) to modernise Europe’s communications regulatory framework and ensure it reflects the realities of today’s digital communications ecosystem.
The Coalition of Innovators in Communication will come together to define collective policy goals supporting a regulatory framework that advances the following principles:
1. A True Single Market for Digital Communications
The DNA should enable seamless cross-border operations for digital communications providers by reducing fragmentation across national regimes and ensuring consistent application of rules across Member States.
2. Technology-Neutral Regulation
The regulatory framework should remain technology-neutral, ensuring that use cases are treated transparently and without subjectivity.
3. Modernisation of the Regulatory Framework
The DNA should modernise the regulatory framework, seeking solutions that will empower innovators in the communications landscape, with a view to enabling value generation for businesses and consumers in Europe while safeguarding consumers from fraud.
4. Fair, Innovation-Friendly, and Competitive Rules
The regulatory framework should support innovation, competition, and investment in digital communications services, enabling European businesses to scale globally and contribute to Europe’s digital competitiveness. Access provisions need to be fair and innovation-friendly, taking into account the entirety of the ecosystem, including the footprint and impact of CIC members.
5. Trust and Security in Digital Communications
The coalition supports measures that strengthen trust, identity verification, and fraud prevention across the communications ecosystem, while maintaining operational flexibility for legitimate communications services.
*CIC is a standalone coalition with distinct membership, receiving organisational support from CCIA Europe in its role as secretariat.