This podcast is based on a column written by Susana Quintás, Non-Executive Director, and it comes with a very European plot twist: we can’t “compete globally” with a telecom market that still behaves like 27 mini-leagues.
Susana’s point is simple, but slightly uncomfortable: while the US and China build scale like it’s a national sport, Europe is still arguing over the rules of the pitch. In the meantime, the real game is infrastructure, cybersecurity, and strategic autonomy. And those don’t come in “small, fragmented and charming”. They come in industrial scale.
So she makes a provocative case for strategic consolidation: fewer, stronger players, but with a hard deal attached. Think of it as a new social contract: “Yes, you can get bigger, but you must prove it delivers”. Not vague promises, not glossy slides. Tangible investment, measurable innovation, real resilience.
And who keeps this from turning into a corporate free-for-all? That’s where governance steps in. Susana argues that independent directors are the grown-ups in the room: pushing for transparency, demanding accountability, and making sure the long-term public benefit doesn’t get sacrificed for short-term shareholder sugar highs.
The warning is the headline: if Europe delays this reset, it risks swapping “digital leadership” for “digital dependency”. And let’s be honest: nobody wants to be the continent that invented modern regulation… only to end up renting its digital future.
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