Europe’s top telecoms executives are discussing the creation of a pan-European infrastructure network to unite the continent’s fragmented national markets, following a prompt from Brussels to consider radical options.

The idea of pooling telecoms infrastructure emerged at a private meeting between Joaquín Almunia, EU competition chief, and bosses of the Europe’s biggest groups, including Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, Telecom Italia and Telefónica.

According to several people familiar with the discussions, the industry attendees left the meeting intent on exploring the idea given their frustrations that Europe’s disjointed market has impeded their ability to compete. The companies, which dominate the EU market through their various national subsidiaries, have been caught out by the continent’s wider financial difficulties and face new challenges from rival global technology groups that use their networks.