News
Press Release, 24 June 2026
93% of Europe’s Internet Traffic Flows Through Routers – Yet No One Is Paying Attention: Study Demands Action on Digital Sovereignty
The Sovereignty Alliance for European Network Technology (SAFENet), together with the Innovate Europe Foundation (IE.F) and Berlin-based consultancy iconomy, publishes a new foundational study revealing that 93% of European internet traffic flows through routers and yet the EU has no sovereignty framework for this key component of the digital ecosystem. Meanwhile, Chinese manufacturers already control 37% of the market.
While Europe debates sovereignty in AI, cloud, or chips, a central element of digital infrastructure remains largely overlooked: the router. Whether in the family living room or on the network of a small or medium-sized enterprise, 93% of internet traffic in Europe flows through it. By comparison, mobile connectivity accounts for only around 7%. Yet routers receive no comparable political attention.
A newly published study shows: routers represent one of the greatest untapped levers for Europe’s digital sovereignty and activating it is among the most impactful and easiest-to-implement measures of the current legislative term.
Concentrated Dependency with Security Risks
According to the IE.F study, Chinese manufacturers such as ZTE, Huawei, TP-Link, Xiaomi, and Tenda already control around 37% of home networking devices in the EU, giving them theoretical access to an estimated 95 million European households. Overall, more than half of all router and repeater installations in Europe come from vendors based outside the EU.
This dependency is not merely a question of market structure, it is a matter of security. Since the router sits upstream of every device on the network, a single compromised router opens a window into the entire digital activity of a household or business. The study identifies three core risks:
- Data interception at the firmware level – potentially affecting even encrypted communications,
- Weaponisation for cyberattacks – compromised routers are the building blocks of botnets, with market concentration amplifying vulnerability,
- Legal exposure – particularly due to the obligations China’s National Intelligence Law imposes on manufacturers.
Inconsistency in the Sovereignty Debate
What stands out most: Europe is already acting against high-risk vendors in other critical hardware sectors, yet when it comes to routers, it remains inactive. „With the 5G Toolbox, a proven operational playbook exists. The institutional frameworks, the legislative instruments, and the coordination mechanisms are in place,“ the study states. „What is missing is the political will directed at the specific question of router security.“
Clark Parsons, Managing Director IE.F: „Europe has the tools, the precedent and the political moment. The question is whether it will act before the dependency becomes irreversible.“
Jan Oetjen, SAFENet Chair and CEO of FRITZ!: „Independent and secure network technology is the foundation for Europe’s digital sovereignty. Only together can we ensure that Europe retains control over European networks and shapes its own digital future.“
Consumers Trust Europe – Without Knowing It
That political will would find public support. A YouGov survey of more than 16,000 people across the EU shows: 58% of Europeans trust European routers, while 51% of respondents distrust routers from Chinese manufacturers and 63% distrust routers from Russian manufacturers. The problem: most Europeans do not even know where their router comes from. Those who receive a device from their provider overwhelmingly assume it is European – very often incorrectly, as many provider-supplied routers still come from non-European manufacturers.
The study concludes: transparency alone would ignite the political momentum for further-reaching measures.
SAFENet Calls For Europe To Act Now
„The analytical evidence is not disputed by anyone who seriously examines the market data, the threat landscape, and the legal exposure,“ says SAFENet. „Router security and sovereignty has been – and continues to be – crowded out of the European debate and regulation by larger, more visible challenges. It is time to close this gap.“
From Knowledge to Action: Four Levers for Europe’s Router Sovereignty
The good news: Europe does not need to create new institutions or start from scratch. The regulatory tools are already in place, it is a matter of deploying them in a targeted way. SAFENet consolidates them into a four-pillar framework:
- Transparency and awareness, including mandatory, standardised labelling of country of origin and legal jurisdiction for network devices,
- Public procurement reform,
- Supply chain governance,
- Strengthening European industrial capacity, so that trusted European and allied manufacturers can compete in a market shaped by asymmetric state subsidies.
About SAFENet
The Sovereignty Alliance for European Network Technology (SAFENet) is a strategic alliance of leading European network technology companies. Its goal: A digital Europe that is self-determined, resilient and future-proof. Learn more at safe-net.tech.
About the IE.F
Independent Berlin-based think tank for Europe’s place in the global digital economy. Learn more at ie.foundation.
Press contact
Kira Terstappen-Richter · SAFENet · media@safe-net.tech
Clark Parsons · IE.F · c.parsons@ie.foundation
Study
https://www.ie.foundation/content/4-publications/ief_router-risk_260615_final.pdf
Press Release, 15 June 2026
Europe Needs Digital Independence in Networks and Routers: SAFENet Launches
Governments around the world are increasingly recognizing that technology supply chains pose a security risk to critical digital infrastructure. The EU has not yet done so. Its markets remain open to products from outside Europe that create strategic dependencies and entail major security risks. Moreover, one central component is often overlooked in discussions about digital and technological independence: the router. As the digital hub in homes and offices, more than 90 percent of all data flows through it. Four leading European manufacturers are therefore founding SAFENet, the Sovereignty Alliance for European Network Technology, and are calling for routers and network devices to be protected by policymakers just as rigorously as 5G networks.
Berlin, 15 June 2026 – Four leading European manufacturers of network technology – devolo, FRITZ!, LANCOM and TDT – are founding SAFENet, the Sovereignty Alliance for European Network Technology. Their objective: Europe must retain control over its networks and digital infrastructure. To this end, the alliance seeks to engage in dialogue with European policymakers, businesses and society to highlight the key role that routers and network technology play in securing Europe’s digital and technological sovereignty.
The urgency of this initiative is underlined by a recent study by the Innovate Europe Foundation (IE.F): around 93 percent of European internet traffic runs through routers and home network gateways – the devices to which families entrust their banking data, medical records and private conversations. Mobile communications account for just 7 percent. Chinese manufacturers control just under 40 percent of this market. While the EU is taking active steps in areas such as cloud services and semiconductors, the central hardware interface for every form of digital communication and connectivity – the router – remains a strategic blind spot, often without users knowing who actually controls it.
On this basis, SAFENet is addressing three core demands to European and national decision-makers:
- Transparency for users: Manufacturers and internet service providers must disclose where hardware, firmware and updates are actually produced or developed – including for white-label and provider products.
- Procurement: Public authorities, critical infrastructure operators and publicly funded institutions should rely on trustworthy European network technology – supported by exchange incentives and programmes for high-risk hardware.
- Priority and risk assessment: Routers and network technology must be recognized as a priority sector in the current debate on strengthening the sovereignty and security of the digital ecosystem. Europe needs a “Router and Network Technology Security Toolbox” – analogous to the EU Toolbox for 5G Security – with a harmonized risk assessment and high-risk classification.
European manufacturers already provide sovereign, trustworthy and innovative technology solutions to serve the market. What has been lacking so far is the political will to recognize routers and network technology as a lever for digital and technological sovereignty and to create the corresponding regulatory framework.
The alliance is open to additional European manufacturers. Further information is available at safe-net.tech.
About SAFENet
The Sovereignty Alliance for European Network Technology (SAFENet) is a strategic alliance of leading European network technology companies. SAFENet understands network technology as the backbone of the digital ecosystem. The alliance represents the interests of European manufacturers in political and regulatory processes, thereby contributing to digital sovereignty and the long-term security of Europe’s own digital infrastructure. Its goal is a digital Europe that is self-determined, resilient and future-proof.