Telecoms
a) Total Telecom. The European Parliament on Thursday voted in favour of ending roaming fees and protecting net neutrality, prompting cheers from consumer advocates and jeers from industry group ETNO. [read more]
b) ETNO. The electronic communications industry is highly concerned about the recent developments of the open internet debate at European level. Whilst we support and… [read more]
c) European Commission. The European Parliament's ITRE Committee voted on the Telecoms Single Market Regulation. The Telecoms Regulation is now due to be voted in plenary by all MEPs on 3 April. Meanwhile EU Member States are in the process of discussing the Regulation in working groups. The Commission expects final agreement of the Regulation by end of 2014. [read more]
d) Cullen International. The European Parliament lead Industry (ITRE) committee adopted its amendments to the Telecoms Single Market (TSM) proposal by a less than-overwhelming majority during its meeting of March 18, 2014. [read more] (subscription needed)
e) Ofcom. Ofcom published a preliminary consultation to review its current Statements of Charging Principles. Ofcom’s Statement of Charging Principles, and the Charging Principles - Postal Services, underpin the setting of fees and charges for stakeholders. [read more]
f) Telecoms.com. French car manufacturer Peugeot Citroën plans to use software giant IBM’s Big Data, Analytics and MobileFirst solutions to provide customised connected car offerings. [read more]
Spectrum
a) Policy Tracker. The Swedish regulator, PTS, will have the task of frequency planning and international frequency co-ordination, to make the release of the 700 MHz band feasible within the given timeframe. [read more] (subscription needed)
b) Policy Tracker. The government committed itself to two actions with clear deadlines. Firstly, it said it would invite a panel of experts to advise on options to develop a consistent methodology for assessing the full value of spectrum to the UK by July 2015. [read more] (subscription needed)
c) Telecoms.com. A large number of operators feel that indoor LTE coverage is an important competitive differentiator today. When respondents to the Telecoms.com Intelligence Industry Survey 2014 were asked to rate on a scale of one to seven where seven represented “extremely important”… [read more]
d) Policy Tracker. European technical body the Electronic Communications Committee (ECC) is planning to set up a project team to fix private mobile radio issues, starting with GSM-R. [read more] (subscription needed)
Internet
a) Telecoms.com. Belgian incumbent operator Belgacom has launched a cloud storage service for its domestic fixed internet customers, offering 10GB of storage for free, 30GB for a monthly fee of €2.95 and 200GB for €9.95/month. [read more]
b) Ars Technica. A European telecom law approved by a committee today is intended to prevent Internet service providers from blocking or slowing down Web applications, but lets ISPs charge content providers for higher quality of service. [read more]
c) European Commission. Europe’s 400 million Internet users face a geographic lottery regarding the price, speed, and range of choice of broadband – according to EU data released today. Four studies published today show there is virtually no pattern or coherence in broadband markets across the EU. Consumers are also baffled by the varying information provided by operators, limiting their ability to make the choice that best suits them. [read more]
d) European Commission. Vice President Neelie Kroes today warmly welcomed the announcement of the United States Government to "transition out of the IANA function", which will allow a more global multi-stakeholder basis for an important element of governance of the Internet. [read more]
e) Cullen International. The European Cloud Partnership (ECP) presented its report Trusted Cloud Europe to the European Commission on March 21, 2014. [read more] (subscription needed)
f) ISP Review. The communications regulator has confirmed to ISPreview.co.uk that they’re currently working to finalise a number of revisions to their Voluntary Code of Practice for Broadband Speeds, which… [read more]
g) Total Telecom. Mobile operator details pricing plans available on fibre network it has rolled out in partnership with Orange. [read more]
Broadcasting
a) Cullen International. A stakeholder workshop took place in Brussels on March 27, 2014 on how consumption of audiovisual services could change over the next 15 years and on how the future roles of broadband and broadcast platforms could evolve. [read more] (subscription needed)
Consumer
a) Advanced Television. UK consumer publication Which? is calling on broadband providers to give customers the speed and service they pay for as new Which? research finds that around three in five (63%) people experience... [read more]
b) The Register. ISPs throughout the EU can be slapped with injunctions to prevent their subscribers from accessing pirated content, Luxembourg's Court of Justice ruled on 27 March. [read more]
Post
a) Post & Parcel. Quality of letter mail service in Europe continues to far exceed both the European Union’s speed objective of 85% of intra-EU mail delivery within three days of posting, and ... [read more]
b) Post & Parcel. A committee of Britain’s House of Commons has criticised the government for including Royal Mail’s national database of addresses within the company’s privatisation. [read more]
International Meetings
1. BEREC GENERAL MEETING: Our Technical Specialist attended the first meeting of the work stream on Smart Grid on the 26th March 2014 held at the IRG Office in Brussels.
2. COCOM WORKING GROUP: Our Chief of Policy and Planning attended the 57th Communications Committee meeting held in Brussels on the 27th March 2014.
3. TSM AD HOC EWG: The Telecom Single Market initiative ad-hoc EWG meeting was held In Brussels on the 31st March 2014. Our Chief of External Relations attended on behalf of MCA.
4. BILATERAL FREQUENCY COORDINATION – The Bilateral Frequency Coordination meeting regarding the Geneva 2006 Agreement was held in Tunisia on the 2nd April 2014. Our Chief of Spectrum Management & Technology and our Spectrum Management Manager attended on behalf of MCA.