Europe has a right to what was termed “digital self-determination”, Timotheus Hottges (pictured), CEO of Deutsche Telekom, said at the company’s shareholders’ meeting today.

In a wide-ranging presentation, the executive also touched on areas such as its LTE build-out, and potential consolidation in the US market.

Citing the dominance of US and Asian countries in areas such as semiconductors, devices and internet services, the executive said that these positions seem unassailable.

And a comparison of the European telecoms industry with other regions also prompts concern, with increases in data traffic accompanied by revenue growth in Asia and the US, but declines in Europe – impacting the strength to invest.

“If we now lose the infrastructure as well, we will lose our digital independence,” the executive said, continuing: “I would like responsibility for Europe from Europe”.

Noting the increased presence of so-called ‘over-the-top’ players in the communications market, Hottges said: “They gain access to customer data such as movement profiles and addresses. This data is then marketed as profitable advertising businesses. We would never be allowed to do this.”

“I really do wonder: why are Google and the rest not regulated in the same way as we are? And what contribution do these companies actually make to building the costly infrastructure?” he continued.

In order to address this, a number of measures were suggested: regulation which focuses on encouraging investment in network build-out rather than low consumer prices alone; harmonised spectrum allocations across Europe which “must not be used to cover-up budget deficits”; the abolition of roaming charges – after a transition period; and European data protection regulations with the same conditions for telecoms companies and internet players.

But the executive also noted that companies have their own challenges to face: “We must get faster at bringing new products to market. Many of our internal processes are still too complex. We still make too little use of our possibilities as a European provider – for example, in advertising or in procurement,” he said.

“Despite the undisputed progress, we must get better at customer care,” Hottges continued, stating that he wants to halve the number of complaints Telekom receives from customers by 2018.

With regard to the company’s LTE buildout, Deutsche Telekom is looking to cover 85 per cent of the population of Germany by the end of 2016, with coverage in other European markets of 50 to 85 per cent by 2017, “depending on the individual national companies”.

And touching on its efforts in the US market, noting speculation about a tie-up between T-Mobile USA and Sprint, Hottges said: “Experts think it would be best in the long term if, in addition to AT&T and Verizon, there were a third major operator on the US market. That provider would have lower costs, better network coverage – and could invest even more.”

However, he also said that “the decisive point is the view taken by the US competition authorities”.

Finally, Hottges also said Deutsche Telekom istelf is not in any talks about a potential merger. Asked whether Deutsche Telekom was prepping a deal with Orange, Reuters reports Hottges as stating: “We are not talking to anyone about merging, also not to Orange. We are not even flirting.”