CEO’s monthly update: Commissioner Kroes pushes on

CEO’s monthly update: Commissioner Kroes pushes on

 

Pamela LearmonthThis week we have seen the adoption of regulatory proposals by the European Commission which will have a knock on effect right across the industry for the open internet, spectrum release, the extension of transparency requirements on bundles for Pay TV, switching practices, and an end to charges for roaming in the EU. Commissioner Kroes has stated a longer term intention, as is well-known across the industry: “Until the single telecoms market is in place, the Commission will not propose a single regulator. This is not the optimal solution for the market right now.???

The past month has seen a new tranche of 4G services launched by o2 and Vodafone, with Three announcing their plans for launch in 47 cities. Ofcom published their research highlighting consumer understanding of traffic management, an area where the BSG has played a key role in facilitating the voluntary code of practice on traffic management transparency. We were also pleased to welcome Ofcom Chief Executive Ed Richards to a dinner with the BSG’s Advisory Council, and got an update from the team at the Government Digital Service on all things Gov.uk and the lowdown on their newly established Digital Inclusion team.

The month ahead sees the release of Ofcom’s annual Infrastructure report, and we expect to see some interesting points on the Government’s rural programme here. We have announced our support of NextGen 2013 – happening on 14-15 October 2013 – where we’ll be running a session on exploiting the benefits of connectivity.

I’ll be speaking at an Ofcom conference on the topic of consumers and communications services next week, and we look forward to the formal launch of Intellect’s Spectrum Forum by minister Ed Vaizey MP on 26 September. We can’t forget that the Party Conference season is also underway. You can read our Broadbander’s Guide to Party Conference season here.

The BSG team will also be out in force for ByteNite on Friday October 4th – the IT industry’s annual sleep out in support of Action for Children. We’ll be spending the night outdoors in support of an excellent cause – if you’d like to donate you can do so here.