Digital Euro Network Service Providers: Two Routes to the Platform

ByRegReportingDesk
RegReportingDesk card: ECB, European Central Bank, European Union

On 30 October 2026 the European Central Bank published the outcome of its procurement of digital euro network service providers (NSPs): two groupings will carry the connectivity between payment service providers (PSPs), national central banks and the digital euro service platform (DESP). The first-ranked grouping, Nexi Payments S.p.A and Deutsche Telekom Business Solutions GmbH, has held a contract since 28 September 2026 that initially covers the pilot. The second-ranked grouping of Telefónica de España, S.A.U., Telefónica Global Solutions, S.L.U. and Indra Soluciones Tecnologías de la Información, S.L.U. starts in May 2027.

For a PSP, the award settles the network layer and leaves the commercial layer open. Every PSP offering the digital euro will have the option to connect through either provider, and the ECB says both will be ready as of 2029 for a potential issuance, subject to a Governing Council decision on the next phase of the project. The announcement says nothing about what a PSP will sign or pay, and it creates no filing or reporting obligation today.

Related reading: Digital Euro PSP Pilot Open Call

Digital euro network service providers: the dates on record

The NSP procedure ran alongside the pilot selection and the legislative file.

Date Event Source
27 August 2025 Call for applications for NSP connectivity published (OJ S 163/2025, notice 560162-2025) TED notice
30 October 2025 ECB announces the Governing Council decision to move to the next phase of the digital euro project ECB press release
9 July 2026 European Parliament plenary confirms the committee decision to enter interinstitutional negotiations on the digital euro Regulation EP Legislative Observatory
14 July 2026 ECB selects 36 PSPs for the digital euro pilot ECB press release
28 September 2026 Contract with the first-ranked NSP enters into force, initially covering pilot connectivity ECB MIP News
30 October 2026 ECB publishes the outcome of the NSP procedures ECB MIP News
May 2027 Contract with the second-ranked NSP starts ECB MIP News
Second half of 2027 12-month pilot with a beta digital euro that has no legal tender status ECB press release
2029 Both NSPs ready for a potential issuance, subject to a Governing Council decision on the next phase ECB MIP News

The first contract was already a month old when the ECB announced it. A project plan that treats 30 October 2026 as the start of the NSP relationship has the wrong anchor date.

What the NSPs carry: external and inter-component connectivity

The tender notice splits the service into two categories. External connectivity is the technical link between the IT infrastructure of external actors, mostly PSPs and national central banks, and the DESP. Inter-component connectivity covers data exchanges between DESP components that may be hosted at different sites or data centres run by different providers and that have no direct way to communicate. A PSP builds against the first category. The second sits inside the Eurosystem’s own architecture.

The NSP award is also a separate procurement from the five digital euro components the ECB awarded on 2 October 2025: alias lookup, risk and fraud management, the app and software development kit, the offline solution, and the secure exchange of payment information. The offline workstream has its own standards track, covered in our note on offline digital euro standards and secure hardware. Those component contracts are framework agreements with a cascade: requests go to the first-ranked provider, and the ECB approaches the second-ranked provider only if required.

The NSP model works differently. Both providers are meant to serve PSPs, and each PSP chooses between them. The ranking shows up in the timing: the first-ranked provider’s contract started first and initially covers the pilot.

Two NSPs and a PSP choice: where the ESMIG analogy stops

Payments teams already know a two-NSP model. Access to TARGET Services runs through the Eurosystem Single Market Infrastructure Gateway (ESMIG), with two NSPs, SWIFT and Nexi-Colt (listed as SIA-Colt on the Bundesbank contracts page). The Bundesbank describes those arrangements as concession contracts between the Eurosystem and the NSPs. T2 participants with a direct connection must conclude a contract with at least one of the two licensed providers, and the concession contracts set the maximum prices the NSPs may charge their customers. Our note on the TARGET Services June 2027 release and Swift ISO 20022 covers that side of the network.

The digital euro procurement was set up on different terms. The TED notice describes service agreements with a maximum value of EUR 355,320,000 across both lots, an estimated duration of 120 months per lot, and service delivery exclusively within the European Economic Area. Lot 1 was restricted to EU nationals controlled by EU nationals; Lot 2 was open to EU bidders and to bidders from countries covered by the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement or a bilateral procurement agreement with the EU. One tenderer could win at most one lot. The TED award notices published on 30 October 2026 place the Nexi and Deutsche Telekom grouping in Lot 1 and the Telefónica and Indra grouping in Lot 2.

None of these documents says whether a PSP will sign its own contract with its chosen NSP, whether prices to PSPs will be capped, or who bears connection charges. My reading is that the ESMIG concession terms are an unreliable budgeting proxy until the ECB publishes the connectivity documentation for PSPs.

Who connects first: the 36 pilot PSPs

The ECB selected 36 PSPs on 14 July 2026, from more than 50 applications received after the March 2026 call. They act as distributing PSPs for Eurosystem staff, as acquiring PSPs for selected merchants, or both, in a pilot due to run for 12 months in the second half of 2027. Under the March 2026 call, selected PSPs sign a participation agreement with their national central bank, and participation is not remunerated.

The ECB states that the first-ranked NSP contract will initially cover the connectivity needs of the pilot. The announcement does not say that every pilot PSP must use this grouping. The ECB’s pilot onboarding overview lists connectivity as a step that follows the selection and sourcing of the provider of connectivity, and the pilot FAQ names VPN-based connectivity through a network service provider and dedicated lines as options. Whether a pilot PSP can use the second provider once that contract starts in May 2027 is not stated.

The announced operational pilot covers the 36 selected PSPs, and the 30 October item sets no onboarding window for other PSPs. Under Article 14(1) of the Commission proposal, the obligation to distribute the digital euro would fall on credit institutions providing payment account services, at the request of their clients, while recital 26 would let all account servicing PSPs, including electronic money institutions and payment institutions, provide digital euro payment accounts. The scheme rules those PSPs would operate under are drafted on a separate track, set out in our note on the digital euro rulebook and the ECB expert call for PSPs.

Where connectivity lands in registers and cost data

Two reporting artefacts could pick up the NSP relationship, and both depend on terms the ECB has not yet published.

The first is the DORA register of information. Article 28(3) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 requires financial entities to maintain and update a register of information on all contractual arrangements on the use of ICT services provided by ICT third-party service providers, using the templates in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2956. If a PSP ends up contracting directly with its NSP, that arrangement is a candidate entry. If the only contract remains the ECB’s own service agreement, the PSP has no NSP contract of its own to record, and the treatment turns on whatever access terms the Eurosystem issues. Our DORA register of information guide covers the template mechanics.

The second is cost data under the proposed fee caps. Article 17(2) of the Commission proposal caps any merchant service charge or inter-PSP fee at the lower of the relevant costs PSPs incur for providing digital euro payments, including a reasonable margin of profit, and the fees for comparable digital means of payment. Article 17(4) lets the ECB require PSPs to provide the information needed to apply the article, with possible certification by an independent auditor. Article 17(5)(a) bases the cost figure on the most cost-efficient PSPs representing collectively one fourth of the digital euro distributed across the euro area in a given year.

My working assumption is that connectivity charges, where a PSP bears them, would sit in that relevant-cost base. That argues for recording them separately from TARGET or card-network connectivity from the first invoice. This is Commission proposal text, and the co-legislators can still change it.

The legislative condition behind the 2029 date

The Regulation on the establishment of the digital euro is still a proposal, COM(2023) 369, procedure 2023/0212(COD). The European Parliament’s lead committee decided on 23 June 2026 to open interinstitutional negotiations, the plenary confirmed that decision on 9 July 2026, and the Legislative Observatory lists the file as awaiting Parliament’s first-reading position.

The ECB’s 30 October 2025 timeline assumed adoption of the Regulation in the course of 2026 and a potential first issuance during 2029, with any decision to issue taken only once the legislative act is adopted. The NSP announcement ties 2029 readiness to a Governing Council decision on the next phase, and the ECB says the service agreements give it flexibility to adjust the services requested as needs evolve. The tender provided for ten-year service agreements, so the network layer is contracted well ahead of any issuance decision, which still depends on the Regulation and a separate Governing Council decision.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a PSP connect through both NSPs for redundancy?

The ECB says PSPs offering the digital euro will have the option to connect through either of the two providers. It does not say whether a dual connection is permitted or expected, so the point stays open until the connectivity documentation for PSPs is published.

Does the award change how a bank connects to TARGET Services?

Neither the 30 October item nor the tender notice refers to ESMIG or TARGET Services; the procurement scope is connectivity to and between DESP components. The Nexi name appears in both settings, as part of Nexi-Colt for ESMIG and in the grouping with Deutsche Telekom for the digital euro. They are separate procurements with separate contracts.

What happens to the NSP contracts if the co-legislators change the Regulation?

The announcement does not describe termination terms. For the five component framework agreements, the ECB stated in October 2025 that they include safeguards allowing the scope to be adjusted if the legislation changes; the NSP item speaks only of flexibility to adjust the services requested during the pilot and later phases.

Key Takeaways

  • Pilot PSPs: ask the national central bank before onboarding whether a switch to the second NSP will be possible once its contract starts, and whether dual connection is allowed.
  • Budget digital euro connectivity as an open cost line; no published DESP terms mirror the ESMIG maximum-price model.
  • Track the prospective NSP relationship in an internal DORA assessment note, and add a register of information entry only if the PSP enters its own contractual arrangement with the NSP.
  • Book connectivity invoices to a dedicated digital euro cost centre in case an Article 17(4)-type information request survives trilogue.
  • Treat 2029 as conditional on an adopted Regulation under 2023/0212(COD) and a separate Governing Council decision.

Sources and References

  • ECB, “ECB selects network service providers for the digital euro” (30 October 2026): ecb.europa.eu
  • Tender notice 560162-2025, digital euro network service provider (NSP) connectivity, OJ S 163/2025 (27 August 2025): TED
  • TED contract award notices 753352-2026 (Lot 1) and 756210-2026 (Lot 2), OJ S 211/2026 (30 October 2026): TED Lot 1, TED Lot 2
  • ECB, “Preparation phase of a digital euro: closing report” (October 2025): ecb.europa.eu
  • ECB, “Eurosystem moving to next phase of digital euro project” (30 October 2025): ecb.europa.eu
  • ECB, “ECB selects digital euro service providers” (2 October 2025): ecb.europa.eu
  • ECB, call for PSPs to participate in the digital euro pilot (5 March 2026): ecb.europa.eu
  • ECB, “ECB selects 36 payment service providers for digital euro pilot” (14 July 2026): ecb.europa.eu
  • European Commission, Proposal for a Regulation on the establishment of the digital euro, COM(2023) 369 final: EUR-Lex
  • European Parliament, Legislative Observatory, procedure 2023/0212(COD): oeil.europarl.europa.eu
  • Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 (DORA): EUR-Lex
  • Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2956: EUR-Lex
  • ECB, digital euro pilot PSP Participation Agreement, Appendix 2.D Onboarding Overview (May 2026): ecb.europa.eu
  • ECB, digital euro pilot FAQ, Q71 on connectivity options: ecb.europa.eu
  • Deutsche Bundesbank, ESMIG connection: contracts with network service providers: bundesbank.de

Next checkpoint: the PSP connectivity documentation

Three terms remain unpublished: whether PSPs contract with the NSP directly, what they pay, and whether dual connection is allowed. Pilot PSPs will meet them first, during onboarding. For everyone else, the next document to watch is the ECB’s connectivity documentation for PSPs, which decides whether the NSP relationship becomes a DORA register entry and a separate line in digital euro cost records.

Disclaimer: The information on RegReportingDesk.com is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal, regulatory, tax, or compliance advice. Always consult your compliance officer, legal counsel, or the relevant supervisory authority for guidance specific to your institution.

Similar Posts