”Invest or die” : Sebastien Soriano message at FT ETNO Summit 2016

On 27 September, the Incoming BEREC Chair 2017 Sebastien Soriano participated in the 7th FT ETNO Summit in Brussels, Belgium by giving a closing keynote on top three European regulatory decisions taken this year.

During his speech the incoming BEREC Chair stressed the great importance of investments in the telecoms sector: “In order to boost connectivity, investment in the telecom sector — fixed and mobile — will be key”.

But he insisted on the fact that regulation is not the enemy of investment as claimed by many operators:  opening telecom markets to competition has been, for the last two decades, essentially a matter of how to open and secure investment opportunities that should be open to all, not only to people in the place.

As a key message, Mr Soriano stressed that investment should remain a priority, if not a necessity, to the operators. “I strongly believe in entrepreneurship as the essential driver of the digital revolution,” underlined Mr Soriano. “I consider risk taking and innovation — of all kinds — as fundamental pillars to build tomorrow’s networks. And this is certainly what made the opening of the telecom markets in Europe such a success.”

Chaired by the Financial Times, and organised in association with ETNO (European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association), the Summit gathered together leading policymakers, regulators, industry executives and investors from Europe and beyond to discuss and debate the direction of sector reform (of its telecoms and digital laws) proposals, and their impact on the role of telecoms in the rapidly developing communications space.