Hot on the heels of the UK government’s ‘Digital Britain’ report comes talk of Digital Europe. It was the topic of yesterday’s ‘Ludwig Erhard Lecture’ given by Viviane Reding, the EU Commissioner for Telecoms and Media. Ludwig Erhard was a German chancellor and, as Minister of the Economy, helped rebuild Germany after WW2.
In a wide-ranging speech, Ms Reding called for consistent telecoms regulation across Europe and the promotion of 3G mobile phones, which would free GSM spectrum for other uses. She also said EU action was needed to prepare Europe’s 500 million mobile users for safe and consumer-friendly mobile payments
A broader consultation on the European Commission’s Digital Europe strategy will be announced next month. [Speech text]