Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges has claimed that Europe needs its own version of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that Elon Musk runs in the US.
He stated that there's too much red tape in the region, as several European carriers also took aim during this week's Mobile World Congress (MWC) event held in Barcelona, Spain.
DOGE was established by President Donald Trump's administration as part of his campaign plans to significantly slash federal spending.
"What Europe needs is a DOGE,” Höttges said during a keynote. "We need an initiative to cut down this bureaucracy and this administration here because there are tens of thousands of people sitting there and administrating our industries."
He was speaking alongside Vodafone’s Margherita Della Valle, Orange’s Christel Heydemann, and Telefónica's recently appointed CEO Marc Murtra.
European operators, in particular, have struggled during the 5G era, with the continent falling way behind China and the US.
For context, a recent Ookla whitepaper highlighted how big the gap has become with regards to the rollout of 5G Standalone (5G SA) network deployments.
As of Q4 2024, China has 5G SA availability in 80 percent of the country, followed by 52 percent in India and 24 percent in the US. Meanwhile, 5G SA is only available to two percent of Europe's population.
Time for consolidation?
Höttges suggested now is the time for telecoms consolidation in Europe, comments he's made at previous MWC events.
“There is no reason that every market has to operate with three or four operators,” he said. “We should build a European single market.”
He wasn't the only CEO to call for market consolidation. Telefónica's Murtra is also keen to see mergers.
Murtra noted that excessive European TMT regulation and fragmentation has caused the continent to fall behind.
"We believe that it is time for large European telecom companies to be allowed to consolidate and grow, to create technological capacity," he said.
DOGE has been criticized in the US for firing critical federal workers, sometimes rehiring them, and incorrectly inflating how much it has saved.
