NI-ICS interoperability

The use of Number-Independent Interpersonal Communication Services (NI-ICS) has drastically increased in recent years and they are now a key means of communication for many different users across Europe. These services show strong proprietary network effects, which are mainly due to the lack of interoperability.

In order to unleash and share such network effects among several providers, and thus facilitate market contestability, interoperability obligations for specific NI-ICS providers are included under Article 7 of the Regulation (EU) 2022/1925 of the European Parliament and of the Council on contestable and fair markets in the digital sector – the Digital Markets Act (DMA) – and, with a focus on ensuring end-to-end connectivity, under Article 61(2) of the Directive (EU) 2018/1972 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the European Electronic Communications Code – the EECC.

The BEREC Report on interoperability of Number-Independent Interpersonal Communication Services (NI-ICS) focuses on the potential technical approaches and the implementation challenges of interoperability measures, on the interplay between the EECC and the DMA, and presents a list of minimum criteria for the reference offer under the DMA.

The report shows that interoperability provisions under the DMA and the EECC work in a different yet complementary way. Article 7 of the DMA will apply first, and Article 61(2) of the EECC may complement this regulatory intervention in cases where end-to-end connectivity is deemed to be endangered, or when the conditions/thresholds for imposing the measure are only met under the EECC.

Moreover, according to recital 64 of the DMA, the European Commission can consult BEREC to determine whether the technical details and the general terms and conditions published in a reference offer of a gatekeeper are compliant with the DMA. BEREC further contributes to this topic within the High-Level Group for the enforcement of the DMA.