The Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure, Antonio Hernando, announced Wednesday that the Government will harden inspections in cybersecurity of the equipment of telecommunications companies. In particular, the surveillance of the radio equipment that use the 5G mobile networks once installed to verify that they meet the parameters achieved during their certification process is increased.
This announcement is produced in full controversy due to the contracts that the administration and the operators maintain to which equipment of this manufacturer are used for the accusations of espionage for the Chinese government. “We will tell the manufacturers that we are going to monitor them and we will see their certifications in cybersecurity”; Hernando said in the Annual Congress of the UGT communications sector, and in front of an auditorium in which the maximum responsible for the four main Spanish operators (Telefónica, Masorange, Vodafone and Digi) were present.
The announcement that surveillance will be increased ex post In this field, because it considers that cybersecurity is “fundamental”, it occurs just a month after the largest public fiber optic network that serves universities already ministries such as defense or interior. The contract was paralyzed at the end of August although this cancellation is not yet consistent in the public procurement platform, nor the call for a new contest.
The Secretary of State for Telecommunications has assured that the Government will transpose the European Cybersecurity Directive – known as NIS2 – at the end of this year. The directive was approved at the end of 2022, entered into force on January 16, 2023 and the Member States of the European Union had until mid -October last year to transpose the norm, so Spain is delayed in compliance with the deadlines. The Government has budgeted 1,157 million euros in terms of cybersecurity, funds that will be executed before December 31 “because this is a priority and the entire issue of security for this executive is in a hurry,” said Hernando.
In relation to the public consultation that has launched its department to improve the safety of telecommunications networks before catastrophes such as the Dana or the blackout, he said that they have already received 23 contributions, and trusts that they serve for the objective of the “react” sector in this area.
Regarding the European regulation that Brussels prepares with the new Digital Networks Law, he indicated that the Spanish government “fears that it will be a rather conservative regulatory package regarding what there is.” In this way, the expectations that the telecommunications sector that the law imposed on the great American technological platforms the same normative demand suffered by the operators, are cooling. However, Hernando was contrary to the project of the commission to communize spectrum licenses, since they suppose an important source of income for the Treasury for the contributions of telecos companies.
Hernando admitted the challenge of the bets of US firms for satellite connectivity. “The world giants are betting on this and Europe must move card,” and was in favor of the demand for greater permissiveness of the European Commission for mergers in the sector.
Operators’ demands
The maximum managers of the four largest operators intervened in the same forum. The president of Telefónica España, Borja Ochoa, appealed to encourage a change in tendency in the telecommunications business to be able to compete with the United States, where the connectivity sector has grown 17% in the last ten years, while in Europe it has decreased 33%. And as the President of the Group, Marc Murtra, has asked the community authorities that “the user’s defense contemplates sustainable prices, in a balanced scenario” because “it is not worth everything.”
Meinrad Spenger, CEO of Masorange, agreed that Spain has been left in connectivity -based services, after remembering that developments such as the autonomous car or humanoid robot already work in China, unlike in Europe. He also regretted that the average income per user of telecommunications and month (ARPU) in the United States triples those of Spain, although on the other side of the Atlantic they have a lower percentage of fiber optic and worse quality of service.
José Miguel García, CEO of Vodafone Spain, has indicated that “Spain is the most advanced country in the world of telecommunications” already, he was favorable to end the “very fractional” market in Europe and in Spain. “Regulation encourages us to be very competitive and it is important that we reflect,” he said.
For his part, the CEO of Digi Spain, Marius Varzru, said that his company is growing in this country after a strong commitment to investment with an industrial model that has had a “stable” legislative framework. “It would be timely to support investment and job creation,” he said.
