Public debriefing from the 30th BEREC plenary meetings
On 8 March 2017 BEREC held a public debriefing for presenting the results from its 30th plenary meeting that took place on 23 and 24 February 2017 in Paris.
The 30th BEREC plenary meetings marked the start of BEREC work for 2017. Three documents were adopted at the 30th plenary meetings: the draft BEREC Medium-term Strategy 2018-2020 consultation document, an updated survey on Universal Service provisions, and a summary report of the workshop on IoT technologies, held on February 1st in Brussels.
Video from the public debriefing is available here.
BEREC Chair Sebastien Soriano presentation.
BEREC Medium-term Strategy 2018-2020: involving stakeholders at an early stage with first open public consultation
During the Plenary meetings, a consultation document on the BEREC Mid-term Strategy 2018-2020 was adopted. The current Medium-term Strategy covers the period 2015-2017 and is reviewed periodically. For the review of the current strategy, BEREC foresees a two-step process of stakeholder engagement, to meet the request expressed by stakeholders to be involved in BEREC’s work at an early stage. The first step is a consultation on broad and open questions to stakeholders on major market developments and how BEREC improves its dialogue with stakeholders. This consultation was launched on 8 March at the first BEREC public debriefing of 2017 and will take advantage of the new online public consultation tool which was recently deployed by the BEREC Office. After collecting the various inputs, the draft Medium-Term Strategy for 2018-2020 will be completed and a second public consultation will be conducted after the 31st BEREC plenary meetings in June. This review exercise, and the process followed, highlights BEREC’s commitment this year to bringing more agility and transparency to regulation as well as to enhance engagement with stakeholders.
Universal Service provisions: contributing to the debate at EU level and updating to new uses
BEREC has also adopted the BEREC update survey on the implementation and application of the Universal Service provisions. The document is a synthesis of the main results on the implementation and application of Universal Service provisions and is an update of the 2014 internal report. It is based on 31 answers from 27 EU member states as well as from 4 non EU member states. The document covers issues such as the designation of Universal Service Providers, assessment of net costs, compensation mechanisms, assessment of unfair burden and measures NRAs have implemented on the affordability aspect of universal service obligations, such as retail price caps. This work shall contribute to the reflections on the evolution of Universal Service in Europe.
Workshop on IoT technologies (1 February): summary report, presentations and videos available on BEREC website
Finally, the Board of Regulators adopted a summary report on the outcomes of the Workshop on IoT technologies that took place on 1 February in Brussels, as a follow up document to the workshop itself. In line with BEREC’s engagement to contribute to the enhancement of connectivity and innovation in Europe as well as to bringing more agility to regulation, the workshop was the occasion for stakeholders to discuss the regulatory implications and solutions that might be required to ensure a large-scale and sustainable IoT roll-out that delivers significant benefits to citizens and users across several industry sectors. All presentations and videos from the workshop are publicly available on the BEREC website.
BEREC commitments in 2017 and next steps
This year, BEREC intends to contribute to enhancing connectivity in Europe, especially through an important workstream on mobile issues. BEREC is also committed to safeguarding an open environment, in a constant dialogue with stakeholders. The implementation of net neutrality rules is an important step and BEREC will prepare several reports on this topic. Enlarging the discussion, the impact of devices and contents on telecom markets will also be analysed by BEREC. Bringing agility to regulation is another long-term goal for BEREC and the promotion of transparency tools will be part of it. BEREC will also play an important part in the review of the regulatory framework that will open new perspectives for regulators.
A full list of documents adopted at the plenary meetings is on BEREC website. The next BEREC plenary meetings will be held in Cascais, Portugal on 1-2 June 2017.