BEREC Chair: Preliminary BEREC views on the EC proposal for Telecoms review

On 29 September BEREC Chair Wilhelm Eschweiler participated in the Digital Assembly 2016 where he introduced preliminary BEREC views on the set of measures proposed by the European Commission on 14 September 2016 to ensure fast and high quality connectivity for all Europeans.

The European Commission wants to ensure everyone in the European Union (EU) is having the best possible internet connection in order to fully participate in the digital economy and society. With the legislative proposals the European Commission aims to place the EU at the forefront of internet connectivity.

The BEREC Chair reassured that BEREC is supportive of the aims set out in the legislative proposal establishing the Electronic Communications Code and that BEREC shares the European Commission’s objectives around high speed connectivity goals, ultra-fast broadband and 5G deployment. He also confirmed that BEREC welcomes the European Commission’s  Communication “Towards European Gigabit Society”. But at the same time the BEREC Chair underlined the neecessity to preserve the successful approach of the current framework that has been ensuring promotion of competition and infrastructural investment as well as high level end-user protection.

in addition, Mr. Eschweiler outlined the further steps BEREC is going to take in the following months. He reminded that BEREC has already published an opinion on the telecoms review at the end of last year. In light of the now tabled legislative package BEREC will undertake a thorough examination of the European Commission’s proposals and evaluate the future directions proposed: firstly, through a BEREC opinion delivering high level messages by the end of this year and, secondly, an extensive in-depth analysis of the European Commission’s legislative proposals on an article-by-article basis in 2017.

During his presentation the BEREC Chair mainly focused on two substantial issues at the heart of the legislative proposals: access regulation and institutional set up.

The Digital Assembly 2016 took place on 28 and 29 September in Bratislava, Slovakia, co-organised by the European Commission and the Slovak Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The event featured two plenary sessions and six workshops to discuss some of the key topics of the Digital Single Market strategy.