Digital Networks Act: where the file stands and what operators should prepare

The Digital Networks Act (DNA) is the EU's rewrite of telecom regulation. The Commission published it on 21 January 2026 as a regulation, not a directive, so once adopted it applies directly in every member state (CMS). It folds the 2018 European Electronic Communications Code, the BEREC Regulation, the Radio Spectrum Policy Programme and the core of the Open Internet Regulation into one text. The procedure reference is 2026/0013(COD).

What the Commission proposed

The proposal has five parts that matter most to a carrier:

• A single passport. An operator active in several member states would notify in one of them only, through digital BEREC templates.
• Spectrum. Rights of use would be unlimited in time in principle. Where a term applies to harmonised wireless broadband spectrum, it would be at least 40 years.
• Copper switch-off. Each member state would adopt a national transition-to-fibre plan, with 2035 as the backstop date.
• Resilience. A Union Preparedness Plan for Digital Infrastructures, with stronger emergency communications duties.
• IP interconnection. A voluntary conciliation mechanism for disputes, overseen by national regulators. The "fair share" contribution from large content companies was dropped.

BEREC's office would be replaced by an Office for Digital Networks with a stronger consistency role. Ex ante access regulation stays broadly as it is (CMS).

Where the file is now

Council. The working party (WP Telecom) began article-by-article examination on 5 March 2026. A progress report of 2 June recorded concerns from delegations (Council 9685/26):

• The single passport could bring administrative complexity and forum shopping, and it is unclear who supervises whom.
• The voluntary conciliation mechanism may add little value.
• The text leans heavily on Commission implementing acts and BEREC guidelines.

The Council has not yet adopted a general approach.

Parliament. ITRE leads, with Michał Kobosko (Renew) as rapporteur. LIBE and IMCO give opinions. The draft report was published on 20 October 2026 (Legislative Observatory). It is due to be presented in committee on 10 November, and the deadline for amendments is 12 November (Internet Society).

The draft report moves away from the Commission text on one point. It creates a category of "significant traffic provider": any company that delivers at least 2% of peak downstream traffic to EU end users. Such providers would have to negotiate IP interconnection. If no agreement is reached, the national regulator would take a binding decision (Disruptive Competition Project, Internet Society). The draft also extends the general authorisation regime to content delivery networks, private networks and subsea cables, according to the Disruptive Competition Project's reading. Both sources oppose network fees, so read their framing with that in mind. The text of the draft report itself is the reference.

None of this is law yet. After the committee and plenary votes, Parliament and Council still have to agree in trilogue. EU files of this size typically take up to two years (CMS).

What operators can prepare now

Nothing below depends on how the trilogue ends. Each item is useful under any likely outcome.

1. Map your authorisations by country. If you provide services in more than one member state, list where you are notified, under which national regime, and who supervises you. With a single passport this becomes your choice of home regulator. Without one, it is still the evidence a regulator will ask for.

2. Document your IP interconnection. Keep peering and transit agreements, traffic ratios and peak-hour volumes per counterparty in one place. Any dispute mechanism, voluntary or binding, will run on that data. A threshold defined as a share of peak traffic makes measurement a commercial question, not just an engineering one.

3. Check how the subsea and CDN extension would touch you. If the general authorisation regime is extended to subsea cables, operators that buy or resell capacity on international systems should know who the authorised party is on each segment they use.

4. Plan around the copper deadline. For operators that rely on incumbent copper access, 2035 is the outer limit, not the plan. National transition plans will set the real dates area by area.

5. Fold resilience into what you already do. The preparedness and emergency-communications duties sit next to existing cybersecurity obligations. Teams that already keep incident, supplier and continuity records for NIS2 should extend those records rather than build a second set.

The window to influence the text is now. Parliament's amendments close on 12 November, and Council positions form in the working party. Operators in Bulgaria and Southeast Europe can feed in through their national ministry and through industry associations. Doing that before the general approach is easier than after it.