ECB picks Nexi and Deutsche Telekom to connect payment providers to the digital euro platform for ten years

Nexi said on 30 October 2026 that the European Central Bank has chosen it, in a temporary grouping with Deutsche Telekom, as one of two winners of its tender for digital euro network service provider (NSP) connectivity. The award follows a negotiated public procurement and runs for ten years from the contract's official start. The NSP is the plumbing between the Digital Euro Service Platform and the outside world. It links the data centres that host the platform and gives payment service providers and national central banks their access to it. Nexi and Deutsche Telekom describe their offer as a connectivity and mediation layer that carries digital euro transactions end to end and scales with peaks in volume. The grouping will also provide these services for the digital euro pilot. Trade press reports name Telefonica and Minsait as the second provider, with a contract from May 2027. That pilot is where merchants come in. The ECB said in July that it had picked 36 payment service providers for a 12-month pilot due to start in the second half of 2027, using a beta digital euro without legal tender status. E-commerce merchants and shops such as cafeterias and restaurants will take part, with some of the selected PSPs acting as their acquirers. None of this changes anything at checkout today, and no issuance date has been set. But the contract shows the ECB is now buying the core infrastructure, and acquirers will connect through these networks. Online merchants in the euro area should expect their PSPs to start talking about digital euro acceptance, costs and integration well before any launch.