Regulators, Ex-Regulators Ponder Next-Generation Regulation
LONDON -- Telecom regulators must be "conscious of our fallibility" as they adapt regulations to future and changing circumstances, said Anthony Whelan, director-electronic communications, networks and services for the European Commission Directorate-General Connect, at Wednesday's Digital Regulation Forum. Regulators are trying to figure out what regulation will look like in 2020 and beyond, he and Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) Chairwoman Fátima Barros said. The conference heard Tuesday that the net neutrality debate is raging in the U.K. (see 1504280001).
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Reform of EU telecom rules is on the table, but rather than trying to fix what's wrong with the current regime, regulators must consider what's better for the future, said Barros, head of Portugal's national regulatory authority for e-communications. Regulators are concerned about ensuring connectivity by fast broadband and about the new concept of universal service, along with how to promote competition, innovation and investment, she said.
The 2020 scene will be very different, Barros said. Europe will have a shrinking and aging population, very different from those of Asia and the U.S., she said. It will have to rely on immigration, which will bring a more diverse society and create a different telecom market, she said. Consumers will be hyperconnected; and it will be an "e-era" of e-commerce, e-government and so on, while data protection, privacy and security issues remain, she said. There will also be a digital industrial revolution, with small and mid-sized companies, in particular, relying on information and communication technologies to get them into the market, she said. Ways to translate the technological evolution into investment are increased spectrum coordination to make it more available, and to enable the new technologies to transfer into new business models that make telcos part of the game, not just the pipes, she said.
"Overall, we need a vision" central to which must be an idea of future connectivity needs, Whelan said. Regulators should try not to predetermine the industry structure but leave business opportunities to be seized by those willing to do so, he said: There are challenges ahead, he said, such as creating "water-tight regulation." EU rules are sector-specific but future regulation must consider the significant changes that have put new services on the market that compete with traditional ones, he said. The EC's objective isn't to solve business or market problems but to ensure that they don't impede the transition of new business models, he said.
The FCC has crossed a "regulatory Rubicon" in defining Internet services as telecom services, said Wiley Rein lawyer Robert McDowell, a former FCC commissioner. The agency appears to be trying to become the lead regulator for the Internet sphere, said McDowell, who was speaking personally. He voiced concern that the FCC is trying to shape the market before developments are realized.
The U.K. has one of the best rollouts of superfast broadband (above 30 Mbps) in Europe, but there's "no place for complacency" because ultrafast broadband (100 Mbps and above) is the future, said Jonathan Oxley, Office of Communications competition group director. Ofcom will do a communications market review next year to see whether the principles that underpinned the deployment of superfast broadband -- such as requiring equal access by rivals to BT's network and not regulating prices on BT wholesale or retail superfast products -- will work for ultrafast broadband, he said. That regulatory forbearance has seen BT roll out superfast offerings to two-thirds of the country, he said. One key challenge now is how to get it to the rest of the U.K., he said.
Two former Ofcom officials said dynamic shared access (DSA) to spectrum should and will be part of the evolution of spectrum regulation. Spectrum regulators are biased toward market forces but still have a tendency to use the old command-and-control system, said William Webb, CEO of Weightless, which is developing standards for IoT/machine-to-machine wireless connectivity. Where this doesn't work, regulators are willing to try spectrum-sharing, but it's a limited commitment, he said. Regulators remain cautious and risk-averse, preferring evolution over revolution, Webb said. Spectrum sharing is an important way to access spectrum, said Webb. Even mobile operators are getting interested in it through licensed shared access and unlicensed variants of 4G, he said. Webb predicted DSA will become common, and urged regulators to stop predicting interference and start monitoring it, thus freeing up more spectrum.
Markets move faster than spectrum allocations and different models of spectrum regulation are needed to reflect that, said Dynamic Spectrum Alliance Director H Nwana. Europe's spectrum policy should include dynamic spectrum and sharing approaches at least as a common denominator, he said. Nwana said DSA is needed because reassigning spectrum rights is "painful and long"; reallocation via auctions or "beauty contests" can be protracted; and authorizations and licensing are also problematic.