Why is Digital Sovereignty becoming an important issue in European Telecoms?

Digital sovereignty is the ability of a nation, organization, or individual to independently control their digital destiny. The subject has moved from being a niche policy discussion to one of the central strategic themes shaping the european telecoms industry through the remainder of the 2020s.

Telecom networks are no longer viewed solely as communications infrastructure.

They are increasingly seen as the foundation for:

AI deployment
Critical services
Government operations
Industrial automation
National security
Economic competitiveness

As a result, telecom policy is becoming intertwined with industrial policy, cloud policy, AI policy, cybersecurity policy, and even space policy.

Why is this a concern in the European Telecoms industry?

In the telecoms sector specifically, digital sovereignty is less about consumer apps and more about who owns, operates, and controls the layers of communications infrastructure that Europe’s economy depends on.

European telecom operators are trying to move from being connectivity providers to becoming custodians of strategic national infrastructure. Operators have spent hundreds of billions of euros building:

Mobile networks
Fibre networks
Data centers
International connectivity

Despite this expenditure, much of the value created on top of those networks has accrued to global cloud, platform, and AI companies. There is a growing concern that Europe may be relegated to the role of an infrastructure provider, while strategic control over digital services remains concentrated elsewhere. This issue has become more pronounced as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and cybersecurity are increasingly intertwined with telecommunications networks.

What are the major sovereignty battlegrounds?

1. Sovereign cloud and telecom cloud

Historically, telecom operators owned most of their IT infrastructure.
Today, telecom networks increasingly run on cloud-native architectures.
The question becomes: Should critical telecom workloads run on foreign hyperscaler platforms?

Many operators are pursuing hybrid approaches:

Using hyperscalers where they are beneficial
Maintaining sovereign infrastructure for sensitive workloads
Building local cloud capabilities

Examples include partnerships between operators and cloud providers that keep customer data and network functions under European control.

2. Network infrastructure ownership

European governments increasingly view telecom networks as strategic assets.

This affects:

5G deployment
Core network architecture
Undersea cables
National resilience planning

Governments are paying closer attention to:

Vendor concentration
Supply-chain security
Foreign ownership of critical infrastructure
Operational resilience

As a result, operators face stronger expectations around transparency, redundancy, and security.

3. AI-enabled telecom networks

The next generation of telecom networks will be heavily AI-driven.

AI will increasingly manage:

Network optimization
Traffic routing
Security monitoring
Predictive maintenance
Customer operations

The sovereignty debate therefore, extends beyond physical infrastructure to questions such as:

Who owns the AI models?
Where is the data processed?
Who controls the computing infrastructure?

Many operators want European-hosted AI environments for network operations, especially for sensitive governmental and enterprise customers.

4. Satellite-mobile integration

Traditionally, telecom operators and satellite operators operated separately. That distinction is fading. Future communications networks are expected to combine:

Terrestrial 5G
Non-terrestrial networks (NTN)
Low Earth Orbit satellites
Edge computing

Europe sees satellite capability as a sovereignty issue because communications resilience is increasingly linked to space infrastructure. The EU-backed IRIS² project is part of this broader strategy.

What financial opportunities are available as a result of this movement?

For telecom companies, sovereignty is not only a policy issue; it is also a business opportunity. Telecom operators actively support sovereignty initiatives to capture high-margin revenue beyond basic connectivity, protect enterprise and government data from foreign jurisdiction laws, and secure their role as trusted national infrastructure providers.

Operators hope sovereignty requirements will create demand for:

Secure connectivity
Sovereign cloud
Managed cybersecurity
AI infrastructure
Edge computing
Government communications services

Major European operators such as Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica, and Vodafone increasingly position themselves as trusted providers of critical digital infrastructure rather than just mobile and broadband services.

Regulation

European policymakers are also assessing whether telecom operators face structural disadvantages relative to large technology companies.

Topics frequently discussed include:

Infrastructure investment

Operators argue that:

Data traffic continues to grow rapidly.
Network investment requirements remain high.
Returns on capital are relatively low.

This has fueled debates around:

Market consolidation
Infrastructure sharing
Investment incentives

Strategic autonomy

Policymakers increasingly ask whether Europe should maintain domestic capabilities in:

Telecommunications equipment
Network software
Cloud services
Cybersecurity
AI infrastructure

Telecom operators are often positioned as central actors in achieving these objectives.

What does this mean for telecoms vendors?

Digital sovereignty is also influencing telecom procurement.

European operators are placing greater emphasis on:

Transparency
Security assurance
Supply-chain resilience
Open architectures

This has increased interest in:

Open RAN
Cloud-native networks
Multi-vendor ecosystems

The objective is to reduce dependence on any single supplier and increase flexibility over time.

Squire Technologies and European digital sovereignty

Squire Technologies is deeply integrated into global and European telecom ecosystems. Our products support the underlying framework of digital sovereignty by providing telecommunications independence:

Multi-Generation Interworking

We provide carrier-grade core network solutions that bridge legacy networks with modern 5G architectures. This backwards and forwards compatibility prevents network obsolescence.

Network Independence for MVNOs

We offer solutions that allow regional telecom operators and Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) to minimize dependency on major tier-1 telecom monopolies, allowing us to build sovereign, agile networks.

Fraud and Revenue Assurance

Our MavenShield solution helps operators fight back against CLI spoofing, Wangiri, and other network fraud, boosting the cyber resilience of telecommunications infrastructure.

While European digital sovereignty relies on regulatory and legislative shifts from Brussels, vendors like Squire Technologies supply the foundational, interoperable signalling architecture that telecom operators need to operate securely within hybrid environments.

To find out more about our platforms, products, and services, click here

Gareth Thomas, Digital Marketing Executive at Squire Technologies

Session Border Controller

The SVI-SBC Session Border Controller is a mature, proven carrier-grade product for VoIP infrastructures deployed by operators worldwide, delivering peering, SIP trunks, Teams for Business and IMS interworking.

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