In 1996, the European Union completely liberalised the telecommunications industry and reached the sector's main service: the fixed telephony market. A new generation of operators thus made its appearance, thanks also to a policy of strong investment incentives. And competition has been good for consumers, who have been able to enjoy a gradual lowering of prices in recent years: around 20% on average, with a record 45% in Italy.

Thanks also to a policy of strong regulatory incentives for investment, fixed networks in the EU are now generally of good quality, according to the OECD.

Intense price competition, however, seems to limit investment capacity, while the development of increasingly advanced fixed and wireless networks requires the availability of substantial resources. The EU Member States, in order to stimulate the roll-out of ultra-wideband even in areas of market failure, have launched massive public aid plans (Italy alone has committed around EUR 5.3 billion since 2015). But, according to the most recent analyses, the European market also requires overcoming the current fragmentation of operators.