100 posts
European Commission decides to add another 120 MHz for 4g
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"The European Commission has today decided to add another 120 MHz to the radio spectrum portfolio for 4G technologies, such as LTE (Long Term Evolution), around the 2 GHz band. This band is currently solely used for UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecomm...
Dutch DPA issues Opinion on Cloud Computing issues
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The Dutch DPA issued its Opinion on Cloud Computing issues (see press release).
Cypriot Ministry consults on spectrum transfers draft Decree
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The competent Cypriot Ministry launched its consultation on a spectrum transfers draft Decree, in alignment with the RSPP (in greek).
EETT consults on the incumbent's proposed VPU offer
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The Greek NRA launched its consultation on the technical and operative aspects of OTE's proposed Virtual Partial Unibundling offer (in greek).
Finnish legislative framework for the 800MHz auction, near to completion
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"Legislative amendments required by spectrum auction in the 800 MHz frequency band are near completion. The Government submitted a bill on the matter for approval to the President of the Republic on Thursday 1 November. The President is expected t...
CAT rejects Telefonica's appeal in MTRs case
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CAT rejected Telefonica's appeal of OFCOM's determination of dispute with H3G and Vodafone on termination issues and in particular on the flip-flopping” practice employed (see related page).
Commission's Art. 7 Comments to Slovakian NRA's methodology on fixed call origination and termination price control
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The European Commission, made the following comments, in its decision, to TUSR's methodology on fixed call origination and termination price control:"Need to ensure timely price control remedies for wholesale call termination servicesThe Commission n...
AG issues Opinion in Belgacom case
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AG Jääskinen issued its opinion in Case C-375/11, concerning the imposition of substantive one-off fees to operators even when renewing their licenses, and the conclusions of which read as follows:"(1) Article 13...
ANACOM adopts decision on concept of 'abnormally high access costs' in universal service
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"By determination of 12 October 2012, ANACOM approved the final decision on implementing the concept of "abnormally high access costs" as used in the methodology employed to calculate the CLSU - custos líquidos do serviço universal (net costs of...
AGCOM consults on TI's NGA Bitsream Reference Offer
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The Italian NRA launched its consultation (in italian) as regards Telecom Italia's NGA Bitsream Reference Offer.
AGCOM approves TI's Bitstream Reference Offer for 2012 and adopts transitory measures for 2013
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The Italian NRA approved (in italian) Telecom Italia's Bitstream Reference Offer for 2012. The agency has also adopted transitory measures (in italian) as regards the applicable rates until the 2013 review of markets 4 and 5 are concluded. AGCOM has...
Italian NRA launches review of SMS termination market
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AGCOM launched its review (in italian) of the SMS termination market.
Italian NRA launches consultation on fixed call termination rate
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AGCOM launched its consultation (in italian) concerning the fixed call termination rate.
Joint Venture between Vodafone Limited and Telefónica UK Limited, approved by the OFT
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The JV, between Vodafone and Telefonica, was approved by the OFT, to which passive infrastructure will be passed by the two operators (see decision).
UK Operators form JV, ensuring clear reception of Freeview TV signals following the roll out of 4G mobile services in the 800 MHz
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"EE, Telefónica O2, Three and Vodafone announce that they have made further progress in speeding up the deployment of 4G mobile phone services in the 800 MHz frequency band vacated by the Digital Switchover. Following recent constructive work wit...
EETT approves anew OTE's vdsl retail prices
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In a recent post, we mentioned that the incumbent expressed its objections on the NRA's retail vdsl decision and the condition atteched to it. EETT, responded positively to OTE's newly notified data, and approved anew the retail prices, so far no mar...
Greek NRA consults on mobile call termination BU pure LRIC model
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EETT launched its consultation the new economic model to be adopted as regards mobile call termination (see press release, in greek).
Greek NRA consults on amendment of General Authorisations Regulation
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EETT launched its consultation on the amendment of the General Authorisations Regulation (see press release, in greek).
Commission consults on Relevant Markets list
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"The European Commission has launched a public consultation with a view to updating the current list of relevant wholesale and retail telecoms markets subject to the Commission's "Article 7" procedure under EU telecoms rules ... These markets incl...
Sep. '12 updt: FCC launches incentive auction process
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FCC launches incentive auction process (see NPRM and press release).
Sep. '12 updt: OFCOM consults on charge control in narrowband market
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OFCOM consults on chrage control in narrowband market (see relevant page).
Sep. '12 updt: Norwegian regulator releases 2GHz draft auction rules
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Norwegian regulator releases 2GHz draft auction rules (see relevant page).
Sep. '12 updt: BEREC issues and consults on series of documents
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BEREC issues and consults on series of documents, namely:- its draft 2013 work programme.- on art. 28(2) of the Universal Service Directive (see relevant page).- on the revised BEREC Common Positions on Wholesale Local Access, Wholesale Broadband Acc...
Sep. '12 updt: Belgian NRA consults on draft review of retail fixed telephony access market
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Belgian NRA consults on draft review of retail fixed telephony access market (see related page).
Sep. '12 updt: Belgian NRA consults on Decree on number portability
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Belgian NRA consults on Decree on number portability (see related page).
Sep. '12 updt: Commission's Art. 7 Comments to the Bulgarian NRA on its review of the leased lines markets
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"...On the basis of its analysis of the three criteria test CRC concludes that the markets for (i) retail leased lines; (ii) wholesale trunk segments of leased lines and (iii) wholesale terminating segments of leased lines above 8 Mbit/s are not susc...
Sep. '12 updt: Comreg consults on wholesale fixed call termination
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The Irish NRA launched its consultation on its draft decision concerning the review of the market of wholesale voice call termination services provided at a fixed location.
Sep. '12 updt: Commission issues Communication on Promoting the shared use of radio spectrum resources in the internal market
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"The European Commission today unveiled plans to deal with the exponential growth in mobile and wireless data traffic by enabling wireless technologies, including broadband, to share the use of the radio spectrum. With new technologies it is possi...
Aug. '12 updt: Greek Ministry consults on DTV frequency plan
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The Greek Ministry of Development and Competitiveness launched a consultation concerning digital television's frequency plan to be adopted (see press release, in greek).
Aug. 12' updt: BNetzA issues guidelines on optical fibre cable installation
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"The Bundesnetzagentur ... published guidelines on the laying of optical fibre cables or ducts in connection with necessary work performed on the grid. The aim of installing power lines and telecommunications infrastructures simultaneously is to b...
Aug. '12 updt: Commission issues art. 7a Recommendation, requiring UKE to improve access to fibre network
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"The European Commission has called on the Polish telecoms regulator (UKE) to amend or withdraw its proposal to give alternative operators only limited access to Telekomunikacja Polska's (TP) fibre networks. In the Commission's view, UKE's decisio...
China telecom Introducing iPhone has finalised
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Lots of the people that use iPhones prefer to use apps that are easy to them and ones who have some sense of fashion embedded in them.Most companies are coming up with cool apps to be able to appeal to the countless iPhone users out there globally. I...
Kroes seeks cure for constipation over Twitter
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When your ducts are outdated, the increase in content can create blockages. The solution? More fibre, natch. Europe's commissioner for telecoms stuff passed that message on this week over that there twitter, giving momentum to an "I WANT FIBRE" cam...
Spectrum sharing – a boost for wireless throughout Europe
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Number of views :1147Ever thought about how your mobile, smartphone, or WiFi works? Ever been frustrated when you can’t get a signal? Ever wondered when your hometown will finally hook up to superfast 4G networks? To all of the above, the answe...
FairRoaming answers to consultation on roaming decoupling
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In reaction to the new EU roaming regulation that was demanded and supported by us, the European telecom regulation agency BEREC started a consultation in July about the technical implementation of some of the new rules. One of the aspects … Co...
If I get 50MBit/sec ethernet, then do I need choice?
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I’m moving later this month to Copenhagen, and I will be living in a 1930s block of flats in Vesterbro. The house is run by a housing cooperative (andelsbolig), and all flats in the block are provided with 50MBit/sec download, 20MBit/sec upload...
We need to go the extra mile with broadband
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Number of views :114 (This is the second of the August crowd-sourced blog posts, by Chris Condor from Broadband 4 the Rural North project in England) Here in the rural areas of the United Kingdom we have waited patiently for broadband to reach us. We...
Commission, BEREC and ARCEP reach compromise in MTRs case and end phase II
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The European Commission, BEREC and Arcep have reached a compromise as regards the mobile termination rates case that was moved to phase II under art. 7a (see older post), after the latter proposed new remedies in the beginning of July. The text of th...
Commission's Art. 7 Comments to Slovakian NRA on the latter's 2nd notification of WBA market review
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The European Commission made the following comments in its decision addressed to the Slovakian NRA on the latter's wholesale broadband access market review:"Need to ensure that divergent regulatory approaches to the nondiscrimination obligation do no...
OFCOM issues enforcement guidelines
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OFCOM issued its enforcement guidelines."1.7 The Competition Group Investigations Team generally handles the following types of investigations:• alleged anti-competitive conduct or agreements under competition law;• compliance with regulatory con...
OFCOM's plans for 4g auction
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"The largest ever auction of spectrum for mobile services in the UK is set to get under way by the end of 2012, Ofcom announced today, laying the path for next-generation 4G networks to be rolled out next year." (see press release).This development...
EU Parliament members in interview
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On July 1, the new EU roaming regulation came into force. On this occasion, we asked some members of the European Parliament who supported us for interviews. So, without further ado, read Arlene McCarthy (UK Labour), Judith Merkies (Dutch PvdA), R...
Commission's Art. 7 Comments to EETT on the latter's market reviews of leased lines markets
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The European Commission, made the following comments, in its decision addressed to the Greek NRA, as regards the latter's reviews of the wholesale terminating and trunk segments and the retail leased lines markets: "The existence of barriers to...
OFCOM issues decision on the scope of PRS regulation
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OFCOM issued its decision as regards the scope of Premium Rate Services regulation under which:" - own portal services should be removed from the scope of PRS regulation; and- PFI services should remain within PRS regulation but that we would ask Ph...
Romanian NRA calls for invitations as regards its 800, 900, 1800, 2600 MHz bands spectrum auctions
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ANCOM has issued its call for invitations as regards its 800, 900, 1800, 2600 MHz bands spectrum auctions (see press release).
Commission approves acquisition of Cable & Wireless by Vodafone
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"The European Commission has cleared the proposed acquisition of Cable & Wireless Worldwide Plc ("CWW") by Vodafone Group Plc under the EU Merger Regulation. Both companies provide fixed and mobile telecommunications services in the European...
Eircom desigated as universal service provider till 2014
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ComReg "issued its decision to re-designate Eircom as the Universal Service Provider (USP) for a 2-year period to June 2014, following a public consultation" (see the media release).
German NRA objects changes to media merger control as envisaged in the proposed amendments of the GWB
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"The Bundeskartellamt has today published its response to the government bill on the Eighth amendment to the GWB. It welcomes the bill and agrees to a large extent with the proposed amendments.Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt, stated:...
AG Mengozzi issues Opinion in France Telecom state aid case
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AG Mengozzi advised in its Opinion (in french) the Court, as regards joined cases C-399/10 P and C-401/10 P, to annul the respective decisions on the General Court and refer back to it the questions of legallity of the alleged state aid received by F...
Roaming i EU, Norge och 2015
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Dataroaming och mobilsamtal blev billigare i EU från den 1 juli 2012. Europeiska kommissionen, PTS i Sverige och Kommunikationsverket i Finland erbjuder information för konsumenter och affärsresande. För myndigheter och företag i telebranschen...
Verkkovierailuasetus: Kännykän käyttö halpeni Euroopassa
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Euroopan komission tiedotteessa (IP/12/709) kerrotaan havainnollisesti verkkovierailuiden halpenemisesta tästä päivästä lähtien ja edelleen lähivuosina. Uudet hintakatot ovat: Matkapuhelimien käyttäjiltä perittävät enimmäishinnat ovat 1...
EU roaming regulation officially published
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Today we can celebrate the official publication of the recast roaming regulation in the Official Journal of the European Union: REGULATION (EU) No 531/2012 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 13 June 2012 on roaming on public mobile co...
Russia: A Mobile Service to Connect Passengers & Drivers
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The mobile navigation service Yeehay! saves time and money finding and ordering taxis, and it benefits the ecologies of smog-polluted Russian cities by bringing together passengers and drivers who otherwise might never connect.
The Different Types Of Telephone Systems
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Telephone systems Chicago have been defined as the kind of communication that happens when sound is transmitted from one point to another. If you are looking for such a system you need to first know what your needs are and from that you will be able...
Viasat found by Danish NCA to have violated a decision subject to conditions
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"On September 30 2009, the Council decided that Viasat’s business terms regarding the distribution of the TV-channels TV 3 and TV 3+ in cable networks were an infringement of section 6 of the Danish Competition Act and Article 81 of the EC Treaty...
Holiday savings - new roaming rules into force on 1 July
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Today, the European Commission published a press release on the new EU rules on roaming charges that will come into force on 1 July 2012. Good news for travellers with a weakly developed sense of direction, news addicts and users of digital servic...
[Press Release] Citizens’ campaign successful: EU Mobile roaming charges fall on July 1
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Checking your e-mails, surfing the web and making calls while on holiday will once again become cheaper on Sunday. On July 1, the newest EU rules against high roaming charges will come in force and cap prices for calls, SMS … Continue reading &...
Finding Ways To Make Cheap Calls To Anywhere You Want
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In today's world there are lots of families that are spread out. There are people who have family members living in another country. With this distance, sometimes it can be difficult to communicate with one another. Thankfully, communication technolo...
Commission's Art. 7 Comments to the Slovakian NRA on the latter's modified remedies in the fixed call origination and termination markets
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The European Commission's made the following comments, in its decision addressed to the Slovakian NRA, on the latter's modified remedies in the fixed call origination and termination markets:"Need to ensure non-discriminatory interconnection for all...
Commission's Art. 7 Comments to the Czech NRA on the latter's price control remedy in the WPNIA market
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The European Commission, made the following comments, in its decision, addressed to ČTÚ, on the latter's price control remedy to be imposed in the wholesale physical network infrastrucure access market:"Forthcoming guidance on costing methodologies...
Fortfarande snordyr dataroaming från den 1 juli
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Den 1 juli kommer priserna på dataroaming i Europa sänkas radikalt. Idag kostar det runt 25.000 kronor per gigabyte att använda sin dator eller smartphone när man är utomlands i Europa. Från den 1 juli införs ett pristak på ca 8.000 kronor pe...
A European Citizens’ Initiative against roaming
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Since April 2012, European citizens have a new and innovative democratic right: the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI). This gives citizens the right to propose EU legislation when they find the support of one Million people. Amongst one of th...
BASE achieves 3g coverage obligation in Belgium
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BIPT, the Belgian NRA, after instigating an infringement procedure, has verified that the mobile operator BASE, has achieved the condition of 85% coverage of national territotry with UMTS technology (see the press release, in french).
OFCOM consults on its notice of proposals to make Wireless Telegraphy Trading and Register Regulations
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"1.1 This document consults on the following draft regulations: the Wireless Telegraphy (Spectrum Trading) Regulations 2012 (the ‘Proposed Trading Regulations’), that would revoke and replace the Wireless Telegraphy (Spectrum Trading) Regula...
EETT approves OTE's WBA and WLL Reference Offers
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The Greek NRA has approved the incumbent's reference offers on wholesale broadband access (in greek) and wholesale leased lines (in greek).
European Parliament vote on roaming on May 10 – we will report “live”!
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On the 10th of May, the European Parliament will vote on the new EU roaming regulation in Brussels. After the many long discussions of the last months, this will formalize the good compromise we managed to broker together with other … Continue...
Vi kanske kan enas om roamingen, pirat Hökmark!
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Moderaternas EU-parlamentariker Gunnar Hökmark svarar på mitt och Amelia Andersdotters debattinlägg om roamingpriserna i en slutreplik på SvD Opinion. Vi är bägge överens om att dagens situation med hutlösa priser på dataroaming är ohållba...
“the top of judgment”* 2012: This year’s top telecoms and broadcasting cases at the ECJ
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Carrying on what has become some sort of a tradition (2009, 2010, 2011), I shall again take a look at pending cases in the field of telecommunications and broadcasting at the Court of Justice of the European Union (and the General Court) which we can...
Är Hökmark (M) uppriktig om priset för datatrafik?
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Moderaternas ledamot i Europaparlamentets industriutskott, Gunnar Hökmark, presenterade på onsdagen ett förslag om data-roaming (mobil dataupkoppling när man är utomlands) på Brännpunkt. Men är han verkligen uppriktig när han säger att hans...
End user perspective: BEREC Guidelines on Transparency in the scope of Net Neutrality
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The previous blog post referred to the scope and structure of the transparency guidelines approved for publication by the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC): BEREC Guidelines on Transparency in the scope of Net Neutral...
Scope and structure: BEREC Guidelines on Transparency in the scope of Net Neutrality
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The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) approved the transparency guidelines for publication: BEREC Guidelines on Transparency in the scope of Net Neutrality: Best practices and recommended approaches BoR (11) 67 (Decem...
EESC on open internet and net neutrality in EU
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On 26 October 2011 the advisory body, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), adopted an opinion on the communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the R...
BEREC consultation on draft Guidelines on Net Neutrality and Transparency
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At the political level the European Parliament, the EU Council and the Commission (Digital Agenda, Digital Single Market) have all been active on net neutrality issues recently. Closer to the ”factory floor”, the Body of European Regulators for E...
eCommunications: BEREC Work Programme 2012
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The blog post What is the EU doing for growth and jobs? presented the main economic reform programmes in the European Union. The entry Electronic communications in EU: BEREC blog posts focused on one part of the ongoing work on the Digital Agenda and...
Report on the consultation of the BEREC draft Work Programme 2012
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BEREC, the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications, is an important cog in the machinery to deliver on the Digital Agenda for Europe. BEREC enhances cooperation among national regulatory authorities (NRAs) and strengthens the intern...
BEREC draft Work Programme 2012 consultation procedure
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After the public consultation from 6 October to 4 November 2011, including an oral hearing 21 October, BEREC published a report on the public consultation. The fifteen stakeholder contributions are available in full on the BEREC page for public consu...
EU electronic communications: BEREC Work Programme 2012
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After the brief presentation of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC), we looked at the ongoing public consultation on the draft BEREC medium term strategy outlook. Relating to the Digital Agenda for Europe, in this bl...
