INTERVIEW: European consumers enjoy “a good deal” after benefiting from recent regulation, but such progress will be wasted if the continent does not now create an environment that favours investment, warned Orange deputy CEO Pierre Louette.

Louette said it was “fair enough” that the consumer has been given priority with regulation in recent years, given the fact that both mobile and telephony prices were high and the European Union was built on the premise of bettering lives in the continent.

Providing a couple of examples, he said Europeans benefited from three times lower prices for mobile telecoms in comparison to the US, and with the suppression of roaming costs, the average user “gets an even better deal”.

But, with that task completed, Louette said the emphasis must now be put on an environment where both investors and companies also get a better deal, with “investment now the name of the game”.

“The best way to put it is that the consumer also needs good investment,” he said. “If the consumer gets great prices on low quality infrastructure he’s not going to be happy. Access to bad quality at a cheap price, that’s not great.”

Louette, speaking to Mobile World Live in an interview, was also frank in his assessment about the wider role operators play in fueling the economy with jobs and growth, while suggesting that rival technology companies do not necessarily face the same pressures.

He said governments need to “look at the big picture” and help operators do their jobs.

“Our jobs are to create networks and create jobs. That is a big difference with a lot of companies that are more virtual –  these companies may not really pay taxes where they operate and are not really creating jobs.”

In the interview, Louette also spoke about the benefits of the European digital single market. Click here to watch.