Europe Should Relax Rules Hindering Telco M&A, Telenor CEO Says

European telecommunications companies should be allowed to get bigger through mergers and acquisitions to enable them to tackle the investments needed to build out the digital infrastructure increasingly being relied on for economic growth, according to the head of Norway’s Telenor ASA.

While markets in the US, China and India all operate with a small number of large firms, regulatory hurdles in Europe have resulted in a large number of competitors that don’t earn enough to be able to cover the costs necessary for building new infrastructure.

“The European companies are just too small,” Telenor Chief Executive Officer Benedicte ...