Europe Is Rewriting Its Entire Telecom Rulebook in 2026 - and the Carriers Just Told Brussels It Is Not Enough

On September 15, 2026, the chief executives of Europe's largest telecom operators published an open letter demanding a "course correction" from EU policymakers. The letter, issued through the lobby group Connect Europe - whose members include Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica and Orange - was written in direct response to the European Commission's proposal for a Digital Networks Act (DNA), which the CEOs say "fails to address Europe's need to materially improve investment and innovation conditions for connectivity."

Most travelers have never heard of the DNA. They should, because it is the most significant rewrite of European connectivity law since the roaming caps, and it will shape what a data connection costs on the continent for the next decade.

What the Digital Networks Act actually is

The Commission adopted the DNA proposal on 21 January 2026. It does something European telecom regulation has never done: it merges four separate legal acts into one directly applicable Regulation.

The four being folded in:

• The European Electronic Communications Code (EECC), adopted in 2018
• The BEREC Regulation
• The Radio Spectrum Policy Programme
• The core parts of the Open Internet Regulation

The reasoning comes straight out of the Draghi and Letta reports, which concluded that Europe's electronic communications sector remains fragmented into 27 national markets, leaving operators facing barriers to cross-border operation and scale.

The headline measures:

• A "Single Passport" authorisation - an operator notifies one Member State and can then operate across the Union
• An EU-level satellite spectrum authorisation
• Harmonised spectrum policy, with longer licence durations and mainstreamed spectrum sharing
• An EU-level Preparedness Plan covering natural disasters and foreign interference in networks and radio signals
• Mandatory national transition plans for phasing out copper networks in favour of full fibre

What the operators are objecting to

The Connect Europe letter asks for more investment incentives, lighter regulation and less bureaucracy. Its sharpest specific complaint is the copper switch-off.

"The transition to fibre," the CEOs wrote, "should be driven by better conditions for its deployment, by consumer choice and by evolving market demand - not by regulatory command."

Reading between the lines, the operators want consolidation and pricing freedom; the Commission wants a single market that works for consumers. Both sides invoke investment. This is the same tension that produced the roaming rules travelers now take for granted - and it is worth remembering that the industry lobbied hard against those too.

What this changes for travelers

Nothing overnight. The DNA is a proposal working its way through the EU legislative process, and the September letter is a lobbying move in the middle of that process, not a decision. But three threads matter if you travel in Europe:

1. Roaming rules are not being reopened - but the framework around them is. The Roam Like at Home regime has already been extended to 2032, and Ukraine and Moldova are now inside it, as we covered in our piece on the EU roaming area. The DNA does not undo that. What it does is rewrite the regulatory machinery that sets wholesale conditions, spectrum access and consumer protections underneath it.

2. Emergency access while roaming gets explicit attention. The DNA puts real weight on reliable access to emergency services during network disruptions, including for roaming users, plus stronger cross-border emergency communications. For a traveler, that is the difference between a network outage being an inconvenience and being dangerous.

3. EU-level satellite spectrum authorisation is quietly a big deal. A single EU authorisation path for satellite spectrum, plus a common mechanism for selecting pan-EU satellite communications with security and resilience criteria, is the regulatory groundwork for the direct-to-device services that are being funded right now.

The gap the DNA does not close

Here is what no version of this Regulation fixes: the moment you leave the EU, you are back in the roaming market of 2010.

Roam Like at Home covers the EU/EEA. Step off the plane in Thailand, Japan, Brazil, Turkey or the United States and your European SIM reverts to whatever your carrier decides to charge, which is routinely orders of magnitude above local rates. That is precisely the gap travel eSIMs grew into, and it explains why eSIM adoption among European travelers roughly doubles the moment they leave the Union.

The DNA is about how networks are built and regulated inside Europe. It says nothing about what a Spanish traveler pays for data in Bali.

What to do in the meantime

If your trip stays inside the EU, your home plan is genuinely fine - that is what Roam Like at Home is for. If it leaves the EU, the practical checklist has not changed:

1. Buy and install a travel eSIM before departure, over Wi-Fi, so you land connected.
2. Keep your home line active for SMS (bank codes, airline changes) and route data through the travel plan.
3. Check whether your destination restricts travel eSIMs before you rely on one - a handful of countries do.
4. Buy days first, gigabytes second. Most travelers get this backwards.

Providers such as HOLASIM sell prepaid international eSIMs aimed at exactly this scenario: the trip that starts in Europe and ends somewhere Roam Like at Home has never reached.

The carriers and the Commission will spend the next year arguing over the DNA. Travelers do not have to wait for the outcome to stop overpaying.