Industry association the GSMA urged the European Commission (EC) to expand the scope of a draft directive on cutting the cost of deploying broadband networks by increasing the focus on issues hampering mobile operators.

In its response to the EC’s public consultation on the Broadband Cost Reduction Directive (BCRD), the association noted to increase the policy’s effectiveness it should put stronger emphasis on reducing fees and red tape related to deploying mobile networks.

It added “increased costs of compliance and deployment result in worse consumer and socioeconomic outcomes,” pointing to a need to introduce consistent policies across European Union member states to meet connectivity goals.

Among the GSMA’s suggestions was to improve and expand access to existing infrastructure owned by public or private bodies; simplify planning permission procedures; streamline and harmonise rules across the region; and adopt an “ambitious pro-investment approach”.

It also called for the rules to encourage co-investment in projects such as edge cloud initiatives and mobile network sharing, on both cost saving and environmental grounds.

The deadline for responses to the EC’s BCRD consultation was today March 2.

On releasing its draft measures in December 2020, the EC noted it aimed to ease and “incentivise the rollout of high-speed electronic communications networks by lowering the costs of deployment with a set of harmonised measures”.