The EU Digital Networks Act is the European Commission’s proposal, published on 21 January 2026 as COM(2026) 16 final, to replace the European Electronic Communications Code with a single directly applicable Regulation. It does not apply in the United Kingdom. It does govern the framework a UK group with EU operations must comply with, and it changes the assumptions behind the valuation of EU fixed-line and spectrum assets. We advise UK and international operators, investors and their advisers on what it would change and when.

What is the EU Digital Networks Act?

The EU Digital Networks Act is a proposed Regulation running to 210 articles in eight Parts, six annexes and over 400 recitals, made under Article 114 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. It is a legislative proposal at first reading, not law, and it carries interinstitutional file number 2026/0013(COD).

The European Electronic Communications Code, Directive (EU) 2018/1972, is a Directive transposed into 27 national laws, and the divergence between those transpositions is what the Commission identifies as the barrier to cross-border operation. A Regulation applies directly, and much of the proposal is drafted as maximum harmonisation, which is why a large part of the Council’s work on it has been Member States testing what remains of national discretion.

What would the Digital Networks Act repeal and replace?

Article 209 repeals three instruments with effect from six months after the Regulation enters into force: Directive (EU) 2018/1972 (the European Electronic Communications Code), Regulation (EU) 2018/1971 (the BEREC Regulation) and Decision No 243/2012/EU (the Radio Spectrum Policy Programme). References to those instruments would be read as references to the Regulation.

Three further instruments are amended. Article 206 amends Regulation (EU) 2015/2120, retitling it so that only the intra-EU retail price cap survives and moving the open internet rules into Articles 93 and 94 of the Regulation. Article 208 amends Decision No 676/2002/EC, the Radio Spectrum Decision. Article 207 amends Directive 2002/58/EC, the ePrivacy Directive. The Gigabit Infrastructure Act, Regulation (EU) 2024/1309, and the Roaming Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2022/612, are untouched.

A compliance programme drafted against national transposing law will have to be rebased on the Regulation. A group whose policies cite an EECC article by reference, or a national implementing statute, has a mapping exercise ahead of it.

What is the Single Passport authorisation?

The Single Passport in Article 10 allows a provider to notify one national regulatory authority and operate across the Union. Article 9 keeps general authorisation as the entry mechanism and the passport sits alongside it. The notified authority must confirm the authorisation within a week, and under Article 10(6) that confirmation has to set out all the general authorisation conditions applicable in each Member State where the provider intends to operate. The passport therefore removes the need for 27 notifications without removing the 27 sets of national conditions. Article 11 requires BEREC guidelines within six months of entry into force and a single national contact point in each Member State, and Article 12 governs administrative charges.

Whether the passport is an advantage or a complication for a given group depends on where its EU entity is established and on how supervisory and enforcement responsibility is finally divided between home and host Member State. That question is open. The Council record shows delegations raising forum shopping, the allocation of supervision, and the possibility that the passport adds administrative steps of its own. Nothing about it should be assumed until the co-legislators settle it.

What does the proposal do about copper switch-off?

Article 54 requires each Member State to mandate copper switch-off by binding legal act, in every copper switch-off area by 31 December 2035, with each mandating act setting a start date no later than a year after adoption and requiring completion within three years of that start date. There is no equivalent in the European Electronic Communications Code.

The sustainability conditions in Article 57(1) are cumulative: at least 95% of the premises in the switch-off area passed by a fibre network, and affordable retail connectivity services of comparable quality available to end-users still on copper. Article 58(3) sets the first hard date in the sequence, requiring national regulatory authorities to publish a list of qualifying areas by 30 June 2029, and annually for five years after that. The exemption in Article 54(3) is equally cumulative: a Member State may decline to mandate switch-off only where fibre deployment is not economically viable and no adequate connectivity solution capable of replacing copper-based services is available. National regulatory authorities delimit switch-off areas under Article 55, Article 56 requires a national transition to fibre plan, Article 59 carries the consumer safeguards, and Article 60 requires operators to publish their own switch-off plans.

For anyone modelling an EU fixed-line asset, the instrument that binds a given network is the national mandating act, not the Regulation. The Regulation fixes the shape of that act and the outer deadline; the operative date will be national.

How would spectrum and satellite authorisation change?

Part IV consolidates the spectrum provisions of the European Electronic Communications Code and the Radio Spectrum Policy Programme into one body of rules, and adds Union-level machinery on top: a Union radio spectrum strategy and allocation roadmaps under Article 17, coordinated timing of assignments across Member States under Article 18, and a Union radio spectrum single market procedure under Article 31. Articles 24 and 25 address the duration and renewal of individual rights of use, which is the mechanism through which the Commission intends to lengthen licence terms and make renewal more predictable. Article 15 adds a positive principle of shared use, and Article 32 preserves the competition safeguard on spectrum holdings.

Articles 38 to 42 create a Union-level general authorisation for satellite networks and satellite communications services, and a Union authorisation for the use of satellite spectrum, granted centrally under Article 40 and taking effect across the Union under Article 41. Article 45 addresses coordination between satellite and terrestrial use. Undertakings authorised to provide satellite communications under the existing framework keep their rights, and remain subject to their conditions, for 36 months after entry into force. Where a target holds national satellite authorisations, that transitional belongs in the diligence.

What happens to the open internet and ePrivacy rules?

Articles 93 and 94 of the Regulation would carry the net neutrality provisions currently in Regulation (EU) 2015/2120, with much of the guidance previously held in that Regulation’s recitals written into the enacting terms of Article 93, and a new Commission implementing-act power at Article 93(6). The United Kingdom retains Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 as it stood at the end of the transition period, so a group operating on both sides would no longer be reading a single source.

Article 207 deletes Articles 7, 8, 10, 11 and 12 of the ePrivacy Directive. Four move into the Regulation: itemised billing, calling and connected line identification, the exceptions to it, and automatic call forwarding. Article 12 on directories of subscribers is deleted with nothing replacing it, and the European Data Protection Supervisor recommended in Opinion 8/2026 of 18 March 2026 that a directories provision be restored. UK law is unaffected: regulations 9, 10 to 13, 15 to 17 and 18 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 stay as drafted, which on directories would leave the UK more protective than the EU. Our PECR and ePrivacy page covers the UK position.

Does the proposal make platforms contribute to network costs?

No. The published text contains no network fee, no mandatory contribution and no power to set commercial terms between network providers and traffic originators. The proposal provides instead for a voluntary framework in Articles 191 to 193: BEREC publishes guidelines on cooperation between network providers and other undertakings in the sector, and a national regulatory authority convenes a conciliatory meeting on request, informing BEREC within a week and receiving its opinion within two months.

Recital 164 records that non-public network providers increasingly hand traffic to public network providers by peering or transit, that this may give rise to disproportionate or unsustainable investment needs for the receiving providers, and that such situations should be addressed through the BEREC guidelines and, where appropriate, the voluntary conciliation facility. The Commission stated the problem in the operators’ own terms, then answered it with guidance.

Where has the proposal got to?

The file is at first reading in both institutions and no text has been agreed. The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy holds it in the European Parliament under procedure 2026/0013(COD), with the Internal Market and Consumer Protection and Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committees associated. In the Council, the Working Party on Telecommunications and Information Society completed a first article-by-article pass on much of the text and the presidency reported progress to the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council on 9 June 2026 in document 9685/26. No general approach has been reached, and the French Senate has filed a reasoned opinion on subsidiarity.

The Regulation would enter into force twenty days after publication in the Official Journal and apply six months later, with the Union satellite authorisation provisions deferred by a further six months. Every one of those periods is bracketed in the proposal and may move.

How does the proposal compare with UK telecoms regulation?

The proposal does not apply in the United Kingdom and there is no proposal to mirror it. UK telecoms regulation remains the Communications Act 2003 and the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, as amended in 2020 to give effect to the European Electronic Communications Code, with Ofcom’s General Conditions of Entitlement carrying the end-user rights. The two frameworks continue to diverge.

Question	Digital Networks Act (proposed)	United Kingdom
Form of instrument	Directly applicable Regulation, largely maximum harmonisation	Acts and secondary legislation, with Ofcom conditions and Ofcom discretion
Market entry	General authorisation, plus an optional Single Passport notified in one Member State	General authorisation under the Communications Act 2003 and the General Conditions. No passport, and none available to UK providers into the EU
Spectrum	Union strategy, coordinated assignment timing, a Union single market procedure and EU-level satellite authorisation	Ofcom under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, national awards, no EU-level satellite route
Copper retirement	Statutory mandate by binding national act, all areas by 31 December 2035	Commercially led, regulated by Ofcom through the Telecoms Access Review 2026-31
Open internet	Moves into Articles 93 and 94, with a new Commission implementing-act power	Retained Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 as it stood, supervised by Ofcom
Telephony privacy	Four ePrivacy articles re-housed, the directories article deleted	PECR 2003 regulations 9, 10 to 13, 15 to 17 and 18 unchanged, enforced by the ICO
Governance	BEREC with expanded tasks, a new Radio Spectrum Policy Body, and an Office for Digital Networks	Ofcom as converged regulator, no equivalent restructuring

How we advise on the EU Digital Networks Act

We advise on what the proposal would change for a specific business. For groups with EU operations, mapping existing compliance material from national transposing law onto the Regulation, and assessing whether the Single Passport helps or hinders given where the EU entity sits. For investors and acquirers, testing what the copper switch-off mandate, the access changes and the spectrum duration provisions do to the assumptions in a model, which is part of regulatory due diligence on an EU target. For UK-only businesses, establishing where the proposal does not apply, so that EU material is not imported into a UK compliance position by mistake.

Rob Bratby is ranked in Chambers UK Band 2 for Telecommunications and is a Legal 500 Leading UK Telecoms Partner, with 30 years in telecoms regulation including a secondment to Oftel and four current fractional General Counsel appointments. Advice on the proposal is delivered through any of our three engagement models: Direct Legal Advice, Specialist Co-counsel and Fractional General Counsel.

The proposal is not law, will change in negotiation and should not be treated as settled. Where advice turns on one of its provisions we say so, and give the current position under the European Electronic Communications Code alongside it.

Frequently asked questions about the EU Digital Networks Act

Does the EU Digital Networks Act apply in the UK?

No. It is an EU proposal and would not apply in the United Kingdom, and there is no UK proposal to mirror it. It is relevant to a UK business only where that business has an EU establishment, provides services into an EU market, or is buying or investing in an EU electronic communications provider.

Is the Digital Networks Act law yet?

No. It is a legislative proposal at first reading in the European Parliament and the Council under the ordinary legislative procedure. No committee report has been adopted and the Council has not reached a general approach. The text will change before adoption.

What happens to the European Electronic Communications Code?

Article 209 repeals Directive (EU) 2018/1972 with effect from six months after the Regulation enters into force, together with the BEREC Regulation and the Radio Spectrum Policy Programme Decision. References to those instruments would be read as references to the Regulation. The UK amendments made in 2020 to give effect to the Code are unaffected.

Would the Single Passport let a UK provider operate across the EU?

Not by itself. The Single Passport in Article 10 is available to providers within the Union framework. A UK group would need an EU establishment to use it, and the choice of Member State would matter because supervisory and enforcement responsibility between home and host States has not been settled in the text.

Does the proposal require platforms to pay towards network costs?

No. There is no network fee, levy or mandatory contribution in the published text. Articles 191 to 193 provide for BEREC guidelines on cooperation and a voluntary conciliation meeting convened by a national regulatory authority, with a BEREC opinion within two months. Participation is not compulsory and no payment obligation follows from it.

When would the copper switch-off deadline apply?

Article 54(2) sets 31 December 2035 as the date by which Member States must have mandated switch-off in all copper switch-off areas. It is a calendar date and does not move with the commencement provisions. The date that binds a particular network will be set by the national mandating act, which must require completion within three years of its own start date.

How does the proposal affect an EU acquisition?

It bears on three assumptions in a model: the remaining life of copper-dependent assets, the access terms available on fibre, and the duration and renewal prospects of spectrum rights. It also affects satellite authorisations, which are preserved for 36 months after entry into force before the Union route takes over. A diligence report that describes only the current Code position is incomplete.

What is the Office for Digital Networks?

It is the proposed successor to the BEREC Office. Under Articles 144 to 180 it would support both BEREC and a new Radio Spectrum Policy Body, which converts the existing Radio Spectrum Policy Group from an advisory group into a Union body under Articles 131 to 136. BEREC itself continues, with an expanded task list.

Related telecoms regulation pages

The UK equivalents of the areas the proposal covers are set out across our telecoms regulation pages: Am I regulated? on the UK authorisation position, Ofcom General conditions of entitlement on end-user rights, SMP regulation and market reviews on access and market power, Spectrum on UK spectrum authorisation, Numbering on numbering resources, and Interconnection regulation on interconnection and peering. For current commentary see Telecoms Regulation and our Insights blog.