Europe's frustrated telcos

Hi, this is Jillian in Brussels, freshly back from Barcelona and the world’s premier mobile industry conference. But first...Three things yo [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hi, this is Jillian in Brussels, freshly back from Barcelona and the world’s premier mobile industry conference. But first... Three things you need to know today: • Google is [cutting jobs in its trust and safety group]( • Byju’s missing $533 million is [stuck in an unnamed offshore trust]( • Small pharmacies are [feeling the effects of the UnitedHealth hack]( Networks of frustration There was plenty to awe you at this year’s Mobile World Congress. South Korea’s SK Telecom Co. showed off a flying taxi. Etisalat by e& had an endless queue of people taking photos next to the English Premier League and FA Cup trophies. Chinese phone maker Honor Device Co. impressed with its thin folding phones, and Huawei Technologies Co.’s stand occupied nearly an entire hall. Europe’s telcos also displayed something else: displeasure with overregulation. Deutsche Telekom AG Chief Executive Officer Tim Hoettges railed against what he sees as a situation where mergers are forbidden while abundant competition suppresses prices, arguing that more than 60% of European telcos are not earning enough to cover their capital costs. “Who the hell is giving these companies money for the future investments that are so desperately needed?,” he asked pointedly. It was a sentiment shared across the conference halls dotted with high-tech displays, metaverse headsets and AI chatbots. It’s unusual for the heads of Vodafone Group Plc, Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica SA and Orange SA, all fierce competitors, to come together like this. But they’ve aligned on the point that there’s a lot of duplicated effort and cost, which challenges their ability to invest in the future. The solution, Vodafone CEO Margherita Della Valle said on stage, is simple. “Local, in-market consolidation needs to become possible in Europe,” she said, pointing to how the venue that hosted the conference was covered by four separate 5G networks: “It makes no sense.” The network chiefs were responding to a [European Commission white paper]( about reforming the telecom sector that was published just ahead of MWC. The paper acknowledged Europe’s market is overly fragmented and suggested, much to operators’ disappointment, that companies should merge cross-border to become pan-European giants. Many telcos I spoke to were frustrated by the conclusion, as there was nothing on their main ask of in-market consolidation. The problem is also affecting technology suppliers. Europe is home to Nokia Oyj and Ericsson AB, two of the three largest mobile infrastructure companies. Ericsson CEO Börje Ekholm told me that a rethink of Europe’s competition policy is “uncomfortable” but needed. “That's ultimately where it has to go.” The two companies announced dismal projections for the year ahead as operators delay expensive investments into their networks. This is so even with the benefit the two Nordic companies get from an increasing preference for their products over Chinese competitors. The commission has encouraged EU countries to swap out “high risk” vendors like Huawei and ZTE Corp. from their domestic networks and even subsea cables crossing the Atlantic, but Ericsson argued it’s having little impact. “The reality is, our biggest competitor in Europe is still our Chinese competitors,” Ekholm added. Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark said the commission needs to go further than just mobile networks and subsea cables: “We would like to see it expanded also to the fixed part of the network, including optical and fixed broadband access.” On the sidelines, I heard some hope that the push to have internet companies help pay for infrastructure could still happen. It’s based on a [lobbying push]( called “fair share” that has so far failed to result in any legislative proposal. Despite the urgency from operators, they all know that nothing will happen soon. The new European Parliament elections are coming up in June, and it won’t be until the next commission is installed next year that we would even start to see any regulatory reform proposals. So we already know what mood music will be playing the next time we come together in Barcelona.—[Jillian Deutsch](mailto:jdeutsch24@bloomberg.net) The big story AI firms are facing a growing list of lawsuits, so we assembled [the key legal confrontations to watch]( as the fastest-developing field of technology races ahead. One to watch Elon Musk sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, alleging they violated the AI startup’s founding mission by putting profit ahead of benefiting humanity. Get fully charged Larry Ellison’s Project Ronin, a cancer-focused software startup, [is shutting down](. The latest Final Fantasy throwback game is [really good](. Fidelity again cut the value of its stake in Musk’s X, as the ad-funded platform continues to [struggle to develop new monetization paths](. 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