The European Commissioner for Digital and Frontier Technologies is a member of the European Commission responsible for media and information issues such as telecoms and IT. The current officeholder is Henna Virkkunen since December 2024.
The portfolio was previously Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society (previously for Digital Agenda). Mariya Gabriel served as Digital Economy and Society Commissioner from 2017 to 2019.President Juncker consults the European Parliament on Mariya Gabriel as Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society European Commission
Viviane Reding Viviane Reding (2004–2010) found a relatively popular policy in seeking to lower roaming charges of mobile phones when travelling within the European Union, stating: "For years, mobile roaming charges have remained unjustifiably high. We are therefore tackling one of the last borders within Europe's internal market".Roaming Charges Portal European Commission Her legislation to cap roaming charges was approved by the Parliament in April 2007.European parliament backs roaming price cuts Computer Business Review Online Reding's successor Neelie Kroes greatly extended the range of the roaming regulation, to include data charges among others.
On 7 April 2006 the commission launched the new ".eu" TLD for websites for EU companies and citizens wishing to have a non-national European internet address. This has proved popular with 2.5M being registered by April 2007. It is now the seventh most popular TLD worldwide, and third in Europe (after .de and .uk)`.eu' Domain Names Top 2.5M in Year One HuffPost
Reding has also proposed that major European telecom companies be forced to separate their network and service operations to promote competition in the market. The companies, including France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom, would still own their networks but the separate management structure would be obliged to treat other operators on an equal basis in offering access to the network. This is opposed to separate ideas to force a full break-up of such companies.EU Commissioner favours telecoms break-up Financial Times
List of commissioners In the previous Commission information society was linked with Enterprise (now linked with Industry). #NameCountryPeriodCommission 1 Karl-Heinz Narjes 1985–1992 Delors Commission I & II 2 Antonio Ruberti 1992–1995 Delors Commission III 3 Martin Bangemann 1995–1999 Santer Commission 4 Erkki Liikanen 1999–2004 Prodi Commission 5 Ján Figeľ 2004 Prodi Commission 6 Viviane Reding 2004–2010 Barroso Commission I 7 Neelie Kroes 2010–2014 Barroso Commission II 8 Günther Oettinger 2014–2016 Juncker Commission9 Andrus Ansip2017Juncker Commission10 Mariya Gabriel2017–2019Juncker Commission11 Margrethe Vestager 2019–2024Von der Leyen Commission I12 Henna Virkkunen IncumbentVon der Leyen Commission II
See also .eu Directorate General for Communication Networks, Content and Technology Regulation on roaming charges in the European Union
References
External links Neelie Kroes Directorate General for Communication Networks, Content and Technology Digital Agenda for Europe Juncker Commission takes office, Press release, 1. 11. 2014