Full Programme

Opening Session - Keynote Addresses

• Communications and Convergence Challenges for 21st Century for Digital Economies
  Keynote Speech, Ed Richards, Chief Executive, Ofcom

International Business Keynotes:

Chair:

• David Currie, Chairman, Ofcom

Speakers:

• Arun Sarin, Vodafone Group CEO
• James Murdoch, CEO, BSkyB

Session Two – New Challenges for Europe

• Fabio Colasanti to provide reflections and outline future challenges from the Commission
• A panel discussion follows, together with a Q&A session with delegates.

Panel:

• Kip Meek, Senior Policy Partner, Ofcom
• Roberto Viola, Director General, AGCOM (Italy).

Lead Discussant:

• Fabio Colasanti, DG Info Soc

Session Three – Convergence and Competition

A panel of leading business leaders to discuss the implications of convergence on their businesses, exploring decisions that will affect future investment, and the appropriate framework for economic regulation.

Central themes to be addressed by the panellists:

1. In a rapidly converging communications sector how can regulation encourage investment and innovation?
2. Will convergence eliminate old bottlenecks, or will it throw up new bottlenecks which have to be regulated?
3. Does convergence help or hinder the delivery of public policy goals e.g. USO, PSB

Chair:

• Sean Williams, Partner, Ofcom Board

Panellists:

• Christian Salbaing, Deputy Chairman, Hutchison Whampoa Europe
• Nikesh Arora, Vice President, European Operations, Google
• Charles Dunstone, CEO, Carphone Warehouse
• Stephen A. Burch, President & Chief Executive Officer, NTL-Telewest
• Andy Duncan, CEO, Channel 4

Session Four – Launch of publication ‘Communications – The next decade : technology, markets, regulation and public policy’

• Discussion of key themes identified from the Ofcom publication

Chair:

• Peter Phillips , Partner, Ofcom

Panellists:

• Jonathan Zittrain, Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation, Oxford University
• Eli M. Noam, Professor of Economics and Finance, Columbia Business School
• Carolyn Fairbairn, Partner, McKinsey & Co.
• James Enck , Global Telecom Strategist, Daiwa Securities

Session Five - Breakfast Briefing

Making ICT Accessible – the challenges

Issues for consideration:

1.  How can we guarantee end to end service delivery and availability in the digital environment?

2.  What are the barriers to accessing the benefits of communications technologies and services?  (e.g. How do we modify /migrate existing USO principles to IP based networks and services?)

3. Will the market deliver without intervention? If not, what measures, if any, need to be taken to prevent exclusion of community groups from the digital society? Discuss the various roles that can be played by industry, voluntary sector, government. Discuss who is best placed to provide workable solutions.

Chair:

• Stephanie Liston, Board Member, Ofcom

Participants include:

• Fabio Colasanti , DG Info Soc
• Clive Ansell , BT Group Strategy Director
• Kevin Carey , Director, HumanITy
• Nigel Hickson , DTI
• Kip Meek, Chief Policy Partner, Ofcom
• Paul Timmers , Head of eGovernment Unit, European Commission

Session Six - Investment, Innovation and the challenges for Europe

Chair:

• Ed Richards, CEO, Ofcom

Keynote speaker:

• Ben Verwaayen, CEO, BT

Session Seven – Is the modified Framework Review fit for purpose?

Four syndicate groups break-out to discuss different aspects of the Framework Review.

Discussion Papers to inform each break-out group

Chair:

• Kip Meek, Chief Policy Partner, Ofcom

Syndicate Groups

1) Can the Framework provide a complete solution to the challenges of next generation networks in Europe?
Possible questions include:

Next Generation Networks

1. What are the costs and benefits of regulators anticipating the issues that may arise from NGNs, such as interconnect and competitive access, rather than letting the market address them and reacting after the fact?

Next Generation Core Networks

1. How can operators ensure there is no significant consumer harm arising from the migration to NGNs?
2. From an industry perspective, is a single mandated Ethernet service preferable to multiple, differentiated products and services?

Next Generation Access Networks

1. Will next generation access deployment and launch of services result in significant social benefits and what might those be?
2. What barriers may there be to the deployment of next generation access infrastructure and services (including wireline and wireless services)?

Rapporteur – David Stewart, Director of Investigations, Ofcom.

2) Remedying Discriminatory Behaviour
Possible questions include:

1. Are there other approaches to achieving non-discrimination?
2. Which approach is ‘better’, in what situations are different approaches more suitable?
3. What is best practice for each approach, how can each be improved?
4. Should the option of functional separation be included as a remedy available to NRAs, under what conditions?

Rapporteur – Andrew Heaney, Director of Competition Policy, Ofcom

3) Assessing Regulatory Processes
Possible questions include:

1. Is the current Article 7 process capable of addressing the challenges of the next decade?
2. Will there still be a role for the Recommendation on relevant products and markets, and will the approach to defining markets need to change?
3. Do we need to reassess how we go about assessing SMP?
4. Does the current balance of power between NRAs and the Commission need to be re-examined?

Rapporteur– Peter Alexiadis, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher

Spectrum Group

4) Spectrum - Roles and Responsibilities
Possible questions include:

Given the rapid developments in wireless communications sector and increasing convergence:

1. How well do the existing national and international institutional arrangements work? In particular, is the distribution of functions and responsibilities between the EU, CEPT and national regulators right?
2. What alternatives are there to the status quo, and how should the relative merits of different options be assessed?
3. Are different institutional arrangements likely to have different advantages and disadvantages for different possible uses of spectrum? If so how do we take this into account?

Rapporteur – Isolde Goggin, ComReg

Session Eight – What will convergence do to content?

Keynote speakers to outline future challenges for content in a world of converging media services.

A panel discussion follows, together with a Q&A session with delegates.

Central themes to be addressed by the panellists:

1. How do developments in the way content is created and distributed challenge existing content regulation?
2. Are there any artificial regulatory barriers to convergence?
3. At which level in the content value chain is regulation likely to prove more effective?
4. What new approaches and structures are needed to ensure a high level of consumer protection?

Chair:

• Tim Suter, Partner, Content & Standards, Ofcom

Keynote Speakers:

• Anthony Lilley , CEO, Magic Lantern Productions
• Andy Hobsbawm , (CEO and founder, Agency.com (Europe)

Panellists:

• Philip Graf , Deputy Chairman, Ofcom
• Sabine Frank, Managing Director, FSM ( Association for the Voluntary Self-Monitoring of Multimedia Service Providers), Berlin