More proportionate or less regulation – BEREC Chair outlines the contribution to the 5G development in EU

The regulators shall facilitate 5G deployment, said the BEREC Chair Dan Sjöblom during his keynote speech at the 5G Techritory. The event, the 3rd annual Baltic Sea Region 5G Ecosystem Forum, which is considered to be the leading 5G Forum in Europe, took place on 11-12 November 2020 online.The theme of this year’s Forum was the first year of 5G.

In his keynote speech, devoted to giving BEREC’s perspective on 5G Deployment and Innovation, Dan Sjöblom spoke about 5G from a competition perspective as an alternative for fibre and a driver for innovation.
BEREC Chair highlighted the BEREC’s contribution to the 5G deployment, providing as the examples the 5G Radar Report to be adopted by the end of this year at the forth BEREC Plenary 10-11th of December. He mentioned the report on the impact of 5G on regulation and the role of regulation in enabling the 5G ecosystem, adopted in the end of last year.  It was the first assessment based on stakeholder input. This report is the result of a “horizon scanning exercise”. It poses a range of questions, for example, how services might be rolled out, how markets might develop, and how any of these might raise new regulatory challenges for National Regulatory Authorities. He said that the new regulatory challenges do not mean more regulation per se; it could also mean more proportionate or less regulation, depending on the issue at hand.

Dan Sjöblom also touched upon the review of the Broadband Reduction Cost Directive, outlining the BEREC’s significant role in its review. Stakeholders are invited to share their experience with the BEREC experts to contribute to obtaining an effective EU measure in this regard. He also described BEREC’s involvement in the EU work on cyber security and the 5G toolbox.