Wednesday 11 December 2019
08:00-09:10 Registration, morning coffee and networking
|
09:10-09:30 Keynote speech: ‘Outcomes of World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 – Implications for Europe and 5G’Andreas GEISS, Head of Unit, B4 Spectrum Policy, DG CONNECT, European Commission |
09:30-10:50 - Session 1 - Is Business Ready for 5G? ...and Is 5G Business-Ready?
5G has been picking up speed over the last year, with pre-commercial trials exploring new use cases, policy debate breaking new ground with the identification of concrete 5G corridors, the Code establishing new spectrum management rules and commercial deployments coming on stream in several Member States.
Despite these advances, queries remain as to the business perspective that 5G offers, both at mass market scale and with regard to vertical industries.
In this panel, discussants offer their perspectives on the extent to which business are adequately prepared, operationally and commercially, to bargain on 5G’s promises and growth potential and to what extent the state of technological development, equipment availability and commercial perspective offer them grounds to do so in a challenging market environment.
As part of a wider discussion about capillarity and investment needs, panellists will also scrutinise how prospective spectrum availability and its assignment modalities between electronic communications providers and industrial actors seeking to operate local and regional area networks for industrial use cases on their own, shape the pathway towards EU.
Chair: Luc HINDRYCKX, Director General, ecta
Pablo FREIRE, Chief Strategy Officer, MÁSMÓVIL Group
Danielle JACOBS, CEO of Beltug, President of the Board INTUG and Board member euro.digital
Pearse O'DONOHUE, Director Future Networks, DG CONNECT, European Commission
Mark GILMOUR, Head of Mobile Connectivity Solutions, Colt Technology Services. Download presentation
10:50-11:20 Coffee break |
11:20-11:40 Keynote speech: 'Priorities of the Croatian Presidency of the European Union'Ambassador Goran ŠTEFANIĆ, Ambassador - Deputy Permanent Representative, Croatian Permanent Representation to the EU |
|
11:40-13:00 - Twin track - choose one of the following two panel sessions: |
|
Session 2a: Online Platforms and Electronic Commerce: The New Regulatory Frontier? |
Session 2b: Time for a refit? Updating Recommendations for the VHC Age. |
|
While the Internet generally has been considered a harbour of free entrepreneurial spirit and innovative potential, the GAFA acronym and recent debates about the data globally active corporations process for profiling purposes so as to be able to better sell advertisements have increasingly spurred calls for regulatory activity targeting these entities. The Internet freedom narrative has both in the US and the EU been premised on the exemption from liability of the intermediaries facilitating mass access to the Internet for business and citizens alike. With the 2019 Platform to Business Regulation, the EU legislature has taken a first step to regulate the business relations between professional traders and platform providers in the spirit of preventing unfair behaviour by platforms towards their business users. In parallel, various scandals, notably in the context of data processing, but also in the context of hate speech, have triggered or reinforced various self-regulatory initiatives by platform operators. With a forthcoming review of the e-Commerce Directive, which regulates the provision of information society services, the Commission is planning to touch the cornerstone of the EU’s legal framework for online activities. This panel discusses past failed reform attempts, identifies new challenges and seeks to establish what may be different this time. Chair: Matthew NEWMAN, Chief Correspondent Europe, MLEX Market Insight Dita CHARANZOVÁ, MEP, Renew Europe Group |
One of the key aspects of the Code undoubtedly is its putting of the issue of network investment at the heart of legislative reform. With Member States and sector representatives now struggling to discern its implications for law and business decision-making, it is easy to forget the role of long-standing Commission recommendations that have provided guidance on these matters well before the Code took form. This panel reviews the role and effectiveness of the 2010 NGA Recommendation and of the 2013 Non-Discrimination and Costing Methodologies Recommendation, and enquires into their continued relevance under the Code and during the transition process leading up to its applicability. Panellists will examine both a number of selected technical aspects under the recommendations (pricing assessment criteria, esp. for long-term access; LLU price band and volume effects; equivalence of inputs and outputs) as well as their mutual interplay and likely interaction with new Code provisions, from the vantage point of legal goal attainment, regulatory decision-making and business impact, and discuss how these tools could be updated to present-day requirements. Chair: Gita SORENSEN, Founder Director, GOS Consulting Laurent BONNET, Regulatory Affairs Manager, Bouygues Telecom
|
13:00-14:30 Networking delegate lunch |
14:30-14:50 Keynote speech
|
14:50-16:00 Session 3 - 5G without all vendors! What are the consequences for operators, customers and society?
Next to their technical dimension, discussions about equipment security in the 5G context have also taken on a political dimension when Huawei, one of the big four global radio and network equipment vendors, was criticised by the US government over proximity to the Chinese state.
In the EU, this has triggered renewed debate about the security dimension of electronic communications, with the Commission adopting a recommendation on 5G cybersecurity in March 2019. Member States have reacted differently, ranging from full endorsement of US criticism over limiting the scope of Huawei involvement in 5G network rollout to calling into question the issue and launching their own investigations.
This panel takes a comprehensive approach to the issue in an attempt to assess its multi-dimensionality, including the trade-offs involved in dealing with it. Next to security, this includes the technological, network planning, economic, social, environmental and competitive implications for 5G roll-out and network evolution more broadly. Panellists present and discuss these aspects from an operational perspective to bring out the consequences in the short to medium term, including for the EU’s 5G ambitions.
Chair: Laurent DE MUYTER, Partner, Jones Day
Jeremy GODFREY, BEREC Chair 2019, Commissioner of ComReg
Jean-Luc LEMMENS, Director media-telecom business unit, IDATE DigiWorld. Download presentation
Abraham LIU, Vice-President for the European Region and Chief Representative to the EU Institutions, Huawei
Dr Peter STUCKMANN, Head of Unit – Future Connectivity Systems DG CONNECT, European Commission
16:00-16:10 Keynote conclusion
Luc HINDRYCKX, Director General, ecta
Conference Close
Please note: While every reasonable effort will be made to adhere to the advertised package, ecta reserves the right to change conference content, speakers, dates, sites or location or omit conference features, as it deems necessary without penalty and in such situations no refunds, part refunds or alternative offers shall be made.
