Lorraine Williamson
European digital sovereignty drive is no longer a conference slogan. It is fast becoming a business plan, a security policy, and a budget headache all at once.
At the centre of that shift sits Telefónica, pitching itself as part infrastructure provider, part cybersecurity player — and increasingly, as a company preparing for the age of quantum computing. The Spanish telecoms group says it is developing “quantum-safe” approaches to protect critical communications, data flows and digital infrastructure, while also pushing Brussels to allow greater telecom consolidation so Europe can invest at scale.
From “strategic autonomy” to a price tag Europe can’t ignore
The anxiety is familiar: Europe relies heavily on non-European cloud, platforms and key digital components. That dependence creates political risk, legal uncertainty, and a straightforward security problem for sectors that cannot afford disruption — government, defence, healthcare, banking and energy.
What has changed is the urgency. European Parliament research has repeatedly put numbers on the investment gap. One widely cited estimate says the EU would need to step up investment in digital infrastructure by roughly €157bn to €227bn a year to become truly competitive.
That is why “digital sovereignty” has moved into the mainstream of EU telecom and industrial policy. And it is why big operators now talk as much about resilience and security as they do about coverage maps.
Telefónica’s bet: protect today’s networks from tomorrow’s quantum threat
Telefónica’s “quantum-safe” messaging is built around a simple idea: today’s encryption underpins almost everything online, and quantum computing is expected to make parts of that encryption vulnerable in future.
In response, Telefónica has been presenting Quantum-Safe Networks as a way for organisations to protect critical communications and data, and to prepare for a post-quantum world.
The company has also formalised its quantum strategy. In 2025, it announced a Centre of Excellence for quantum technologies, explicitly tying its work to crypto-agility and post-quantum cybersecurity.
There is a commercial angle too. Telefónica Tech has partnered with IBM around quantum-safe security capabilities, positioning this as a practical service for clients worried about future-proofing systems.
And in a very current, very Spanish development, Telefónica has also been linked to new quantum computing infrastructure inside Spain. CESGA (Galicia’s supercomputing centre) has signed an agreement with IQM and Telefónica to acquire, with deployment expected by June 2026.
The Murtra argument: Europe won’t build sovereignty without scale
Telefónica’s chairman and CEO, Marc Murtra, has been blunt that Europe’s fragmented telecom market limits investment. In a major 2025 intervention, he called on regulators to allow consolidation so operators can “create technological capacity” — language clearly aimed at the wider sovereignty debate.
Telefónica has pushed the same case in its own public commentary, framing consolidation as a route to stronger European infrastructure and competitiveness.
UK´s Financial Times reporting has also pointed to Telefónica’s growing interest in data centres and cybersecurity as part of this repositioning — not just as adjacent businesses, but as strategic infrastructure Europe wants to keep closer to home.
It’s not just Telefónica: the telecom giants are singing from the same hymn sheet
Telefónica is far from alone. Orange and Deutsche Telekom published a joint statement arguing that digital sovereignty has become a top EU priority, and that delivering it will require major investment and supportive policy reform.
Reuters has also reported on a wider telecom industry push, with leading executives urging the European Commission to ease merger rules to help fund infrastructure investment, in parallel with the EU’s work on a proposed Digital Networks Act.
Outside telecoms, pressure is rising as well. A declaration backed by 41 European CEOs called for faster investment and a more agile regulatory environment to stop Europe losing ground in critical technologies.
And in another high-profile intervention, a broader coalition of European tech firms and groups has urged Brussels to back sovereign infrastructure and “buy European” approaches for strategic technology.
The Spain dimension: sovereignty talk meets hard decisions at home
Spain sits in an awkward position in this debate. It wants investment, skills and strategic industries. It also wants trusted networks.
That tension surfaced clearly in 2025 when Reuters reported that Spain’s government cancelled a Telefónica fibre services contract over the use of Huawei equipment, reflecting wider European security concerns around high-risk vendors.
At the same time, Madrid has been trying to shape a “humanist” digital agenda. In a government statement, Digital Transformation Minister Óscar López said Spain wants to “design and finance” a sustainable digital transformation — a tone that blends rights, regulation and competitiveness.
There is another reality Telefónica cannot escape: restructuring. Recent reporting has highlighted significant job-cut plans in Spain, although unions have also said the final voluntary departure figure was reduced compared with earlier proposals. The bigger story, Telefónica argues, is a shift towards higher-value digital work — including cybersecurity and next-generation infrastructure — even as legacy operations shrink.
Why this matters to businesses and everyday users
For most people, “digital sovereignty” sounds abstract until something breaks: a hospital system, a government network, a payment platform, or a supply chain.
What Telefónica and its peers are really describing is a fight over who controls the pipes, the cloud layers, and the security standards that modern life depends on. Quantum-safe security is one part of that puzzle. So is the political battle over whether Europe should allow fewer, bigger operators to bankroll the infrastructure race.
Europe has set out the ambition. Now it has to prove it can pay for it — and build it — before dependency becomes destiny.
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