Highlights and Activities for weeks 13 & 14

1. telecompaper. UK regulator Ofcom confirmed that the European Commission has not raised any concerns about plans to reduce the price ISPs, mobile operators and businesses must pay to BT for 1Gbps+ wholesale Leased Line (Ethernet) services in all parts of the UK except Hull and London.  Read more… 
   Read also analytical article prepared by Cullen International (subscription is required)
    
2. ARCEP.  ARCEP Chairman informs the Paris public prosecutor of Skype’s possible failure to comply with its obligation to declare itself as an electronic communications operator in France. Read more…
    
3. BEREC.  BEREC suggests that AGCOM maintains its proposed glide path but sets the transition FTRs (for 2013 and 2014) on the basis of a pure LRIC for both TDM and IP (for the avoidance of doubt, this means setting the 2013 and 2014 FTRs using AGCOM’s proposed methodology in which the 2012 TDM FTR are replaced by the 2012 pure LRIC TDM FTR). Read more…
   Read also analytical article prepared by Cullen International (subscription is required)
    
4. EurActiv.  The European Commission blocked plans by Germany to raise the fees operators such as Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone charge each other to connect fixed-line phone calls, in a sign of how Brussels is seeking to influence telecoms policy.  Read more…
    
5. ComReg. M2M communications are already deployed in Ireland. These deployments are based on existing numbering/addressing resources whose use for this purpose could not have been seen. It seems prudent, if not essential that a more targeted long term numbering resource designed specifically for M2M purposes should be made available to satisfy the demand for numbers arising from the emerging M2M services. Read more…
    
6. EUROPOLITICS.  The European Commission looks set to release its recommendation on access to telecoms networks in June. The text is eagerly awaited and contains provisions to calculate access rates to networks and to guarantee that alternative operators have...  Read more… (subscription is required)
    
7. EUROPOLITICS.  National telecoms regulators want to keep their power. They take a dim view of the obligations foreseen in the European Commission’s draft recommendation regulating access to telecoms networks. In its opinion released on 26 March, the Body of...  Read more… (subscription is required)

1. Advanced Television.  Italian commercial broadcaster Mediaset has submitted a request to the Ministry of Economic Development and the Communications Authority (AgCom) to transform its DVB-H multiplex ...  Read more…
    
2. The Telegraph.  The level of digital television interference caused by new 4G mobile broadband networks will not be as bad as expected, the group set up to fix problems has claimed after tests.  Read more…
   Read also analytical article prepared by PolicyTracker (subscription is required)
    
3. PolicyTracker.  Supporters of LTE Broadcast technology say it offers mobile operators the opportunity to use their spectrum more efficiently. But is the technology all it’s cracked up to be, and are the operators ready for it? Read more… (subscription is required)
    

1. European Commission.  On 26th March 2013, the European Commission proposed new rules to cut by 30% the cost of rolling out high-speed Internet. Civil engineering, such as the digging up of roads to lay down fibre, accounts for up to 80% of the cost of deploying high-speed networks. The proposal may save companies €40 to 60 billion. Read more…
    
2. ETNO.  ETNO, who represents the leading investors in high speed broadband networks, welcomes the draft EC Regulation to cut the cost of rolling out high-speed broadband, as an important step for supporting investment in the EU and accelerating the achievement of the DAE targets.  Read more…
    
3. Ovum.  Vodafone and Orange have announced plans to jointly build a nationwide FTTH network in Spain in an effort to strengthen their positions in the converged services space and … Read more…
    
4. The Wall Street Journal.  Germany's federal network agency Tuesday said Deutsche Telekom AG is permitted to deny access to last-mile connections--which link households to networks--to competitors in the process of vectoring, under certain conditions.  Read more…

1. The Economist.  IT IS a type of software sometimes described as “absolute power” or “God”. Small wonder its sales are growing. Packets of computer code, known as... Read more...

1. Post & Parcel.  The Netherlands has a new postal regulator as of this month – the Consumer and Markets Authority (ACM). The new independent agency was formed by the merger of three regulators ... Read more...
    
2. Post & Parcel.   European postal operators’ association PostEurop met with high-level European Commission officials yesterday in Brussels to sign a declaration on the environmental commitment of the postal industry. Read more…
    
3. Post & Parcel.  Stamp prices in the Netherlands look set to increase by six cents from 1st July, and could increase again on 1st January 2014.  Read more…
    
4. ComReg.  ComReg is seeking the views of interested parties on the proposed postal levy and whether the draft levy order is objective, transparent, and proportionate. Read more…

1. Our Chief Technology Officer attended the Radio Spectrum Policy Group meeting held in Dublin which focused on wireless broadband. 

1. During the period under review, the Hon. Dr. Edward Zammit Lewis, Parliamentary Secretary for Competitiveness and Economic Growth made an official visit to the MCA during which he met all staff and discussed a number of upcoming projects with the top management of the Authority http://www.mca.org.mt/notices-and-announcements/visit-hon-dr-edward-zammit-lewis-parliamentary-secretary-competitiveness