BRUSSELS - The Business Software Alliance (BSA) cautioned today that the European Commission’s proposed Digital Networks Act (DNA), while aimed at strengthening digital infrastructure, could have unintended consequences for Europe’s enterprise software and cloud economy.

Content and application providers (CAPs), content delivery networks (CDNs), and cloud service providers are major drivers of digital demand across Europe, enabling businesses in every sector to increase productivity, innovate, and grow. BSA stressed that these services are part of the application layer of the digital ecosystem, and not extensions of telecommunications networks.

While the proposal does not introduce explicit network usage fees, BSA warned that elements of the framework could indirectly revive similar outcomes.

“Cloud services providers, CDNs, and CAPs create demand and economic value — they are not a cost imbalance to be corrected,” said Alice Stradi, Senior Manager, Policy – EMEA at BSA. “Approaches that frame traffic growth as a problem, or link demands for capacity to commercial settlements, risk increasing costs and uncertainty for European businesses.”

BSA also emphasized that indirect regulation of CDNs, cloud, and application-layer providers should be avoided under EU telecoms rules.

“Europe’s enterprise software sector already operates under robust, cross-cutting security and data rules,” Stradi added. “The Digital Networks Act should reinforce that model and draw a clear line between connectivity regulation and the software-driven economy.”

BSA looks forward to engaging with EU policymakers to ensure the Digital Networks Act fortifies networks without weakening the open, market-driven digital ecosystem on which Europe’s enterprise economy depends.