HAKOM at This Year's Final Plenary BEREC Meeting

The most important issue referred to the revision of the regulatory framework. According to the Commission which is about to start the revision procedure of the regulatory framework the BEREC opinion is considered extremely valuable. At the meeting, BEREC opinion was adopted and it will be submitted to the Commission and published. The main discussion was on defining the services within the regulatory framework, the treatment by the OTT service providers and eventually on drafting the executive summary.

ZAGREB, 11 December 2015 – The BEREC Plenary Session (Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications) was held in London between 10 and 11 December. The main topic was the discussion on BEREC response to the Commission's questionnaire in the revision procedure of regulatory framework, the IRG (Independent Regulators Group) workshop on roaming regulation and main challenges in the mobile networks. On the eve of the plenary meeting, on December 9, a workshop regarding two issues was held. It referred to the BEREC opinion and the upcoming changes of the regulatory framework and the network neutrality. However, at the workshop on network neutrality, the fundamental preconditions were presented related to the network neutrality in the United States and the European Union. The workshop was followed by a discussion on the key issues of network neutrality or the way according to which these issues have been solved in America and Europe. The workshop gathered the heads of the regulatory authority of Electronic communications from the USA, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the BEREC, the leaders of more than thirty European countries, the regulatory authorities and representatives of the Commission from DG CONNECT.

Croatia was one of the first in Europe who introduced a new regulation of call termination rates thus giving a new approach to one of the main challenges in mobile networks today related to the business relation between the EU operators and non-EU operators. One of the speakers at the IRG workshop on roaming regulation and main challenges in mobile networks was Marko Čavlović. Assistant director of the Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries (HAKOM) Basic preconditions of the Croatian regulation were presented as well as the way they influenced the Croatian market. The presentation was followed by a discussion on the topic "Should the operators outside the EU borders benefit from the regulation, which applies only to the EU operators?"

As for the plenary meetings, the most important issue referred to the revision of the regulatory framework. According to the Commission which is about to start the revision procedure of the regulatory framework, opinion of BEREC is considered extremely valuable. The main discussion referred to defining the services within the regulatory framework and treatment by the OTT providers as well as on drafting the executive summary. Due to the fact that the stakeholders read only the executive summary, it was of great importance to include basic messages of BEREC's response in the executive summary. In addition to the discussions on BEREC response to the EC questionnaire in the regulatory framework revision procedure, the topics that were discussed were the BEREC documents on the data related to the roaming market and work programme for 2016. In addition to the work programme for 2016, the Commission adopted the documents submitted to the Commission with all the information needed to analyse the roaming market aimed at implementing the call at the national call rates (Rome Like at Home - RLAH) in mid-June 2017.

Taking into consideration that this was this year’s last meeting, Vice-Chais of BEREC for2016 were elected, as well as the BEREC Chairs 2017, Vice Chairs in 2016 will be Mr. Henk Don (ACM - Netherlands) and Mr. Angelo Marcello Cardani (AGCOM - Italy). BEREC Chair in 2017, who is also the Vice-Chair in 2016 will be Mr. Sébastien Soriano (ARCEP - France). The invited guest of the final BEREC meeting was Günther H. Oettinger, Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society portfolio who held a speech on the DSM (Digital Single Market).
The plenary meeting was attended by Mr. Dražen Lučić, President of the Council of HAKOM and Marko Čavlović Assistant Director, who gave an invited lecture at the plenary meeting on "The deregulation of the Market of Call Termination on Mobile Networks within the Republic of Croatia for the Operators from outside the EU" as an example of best practice in this field in Europe.
 

ABOUT HAKOM: HAKOM (www.hakom.hr) - Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries – ensures preconditions for a fair market competition, stable growth and environment for innovations in the electronic communications and postal services market. HAKOM protects users’ interests and the possibility of choice among various communications and postal services at affordable prices, defines sustainable competitive conditions for operators and service providers under fair conditions for return on investment, and provides support to economic growth, public services and the quality of life in the Republic of Croatia by using modern technologies. HAKOM’ strategic goals are: to promote regulation of the electronic communications and postal services market, to support growth of investments and innovations in the electronic communications and postal services market, to provide efficient use of limited resources, to accelerate the growth of broadband products and services, to provide affordable offers of communications and postal services, to provide protection and informing of users, to build an efficient and comprehensive information system, to define and implement efficient processes, and to acquire multi-disciplinary competencies in market regulation.