Policy World

Competing Continents: the pursuit of excellence in electronic communications

Riga, Latvia
25-26 June 2019

This event brings together expert speakers from around the world, from regulators, industry, civil society and more. These include the Director-General, DG CONNECT, Dr Roberto Viola; Professor Barbara van Schewick, Director of Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society; and Dr Harald Gruber, Head of the Digital Infrastructure Division, Projects Directorate, European Investment Bank. Registration is now open. 

The event is being held jointly with BEREC, to mark their 10th anniversary and the IIC’s 50th. Both organisations are delighted to be arranging this event in the wonderful Splendid Palace in the cultural city of Riga.

The packed programme covers a range of topics, from investment and connectivity, to whether 5G is living up to its promise of being a game-changer for telecoms. You can see the draft programme, and who’s speaking in each session, here.

Communications Policy & Regulation Week 2019

London, UK
7-10 October 2019

In its 50th anniversary year, the IIC returns to its birthplace, London, for Communications Policy & Regulation Week (CPR Week). 

The Week begins with the International Regulators’ Forum, kindly hosted by Ofcom at their offices, for the most senior regulators from across the globe. The Annual Conference follows, where the rest of the TMT stakeholder community join regulators to continue the discussions around governance, content futures, competition policy, spectrum and privacy, safety and security.

Part of CPR Week includes the annual in-person meeting of the Small Nations Regulators’ Forum (SNRF). Membership to the Forum is free, and you can learn more about it here.

Learn about our half-century of TMT history at iicom50.org. To be kept up to date with the latest news and events from the IIC, do update your communication preferences here.

IIC 2019 Competition for Future Leaders

Open for
submissions

Open to anyone aged 35 or under, and working in the TMT sector or related academia, the 2019 Future Leaders’ Competition is now open for submissions. 

Now in its second year, the competition aims to showcase the talents of upcoming professionals, and the winner will present their entry at our 50th Annual Conference, in London in October. 

You can learn more here, and download a poster to display in your workplace here. Please do pass on the details to any colleagues who might be interested in entering, and help us encourage and promote original thought in the areas of communications and policy.

IIC Singapore Chapter - TRPC Forum

Singapore
30 May 2019

This event, ‘The Humanity in Artificial Intelligence’, will discuss issues arising from the increasing deployment of AI, the cultural and ethical nuances of data collection for AI, and the frameworks in place for businesses and policy makers. You can learn more here and register here. 

Moderated by Jeremy Tan, Director, CMS Holborn Asia, the speakers are Ieva Martinkenaite, VP, AI and IoT Business Development, Telenor Group; Expert Member, High-level Expert Group on AI, European Commission, and Lee Wan Sie, Director (Data Innovation Programme Office), Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore.

IIC UK Chapter Event

London, UK
1 July 2019

Registration is now open for the next IIC UK Chapter event, ‘Investment in networks: what’s happening on the ground, and what can we do (or not do) to help?’ 

Kindly hosted by Ofcom, the aim of this discussion is to assess what is actually happening on the ground in terms of investment in advanced networks (fibre and 5G) both in the UK and elsewhere in the world. Learn more.

IIC Europe Chapter

Rome, Italy
18-19 July 2019

The first of the three IIC Europe Chapter events will focus on the review of the European Electronic Communications Code, and will take place in Rome on 18-19 July 2019.

The Europe Chapter is an initiative of the three IIC Chapters based in Europe (Brussels, Italy and the UK).

IIC Italian Chapter Event Report

The Regulation of Communications in the Gigabit Society

On 17th May 2019, the Italian Chapter and the InnoLawLab Laboratory of the European University of Rome organised a joint workshop, which focused on the rollout of the EU’s new telecoms regulation, the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC).

The meeting analysed in depth the main topics of the Code, which aims to introduce a new dynamic into competition and investment in networks, paving the way for innovations such as 5G, but also expanding the scope of the telecom regulation to online communications; the implementation of which still poses a number of questions because of these major changes. Learn more.

Regulatory Directions (Part 1)

Intermedia Volume 47, Issue 1

In the first part of this two-part series, Peter Alexiadis examines the approaches taken by different countries to their regulatory structures. This article looks at the approaches taken, provides pros and cons for each, and notes where they differ around the world, and why. 

The article also examines what happens when ex ante and ex post disciplines are merged, and which takes precedence in these hybrid agencies. You can read the article in full here.

We’ve been publishing Intermedia since 1973. IIC members can access the latest articles here and past issues can be accessed here.

When it Comes to Fintech, the Future is Asian and African

One of the rewarding aspects of embarking on our 50th anniversary timeline project (more here) is discovering things you thought you knew which it turns out you didn’t. We had cited M-Pesa as the milestone in the development of mobile payment systems. But IIC Director Dr Peter Lovelock pointed out that the first system, Smart Money, was introduced in the Philippines in 2000, and was followed in 2004 by GCash – seven and four years respectively before the launch of M-Pesa in Kenya. Read more.

Regulatory Watch

Each month we highlight some of the key regulatory news stories from around the world. You can view them all here.

Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has launched a public consultation to seek views from the industry and public on the appropriate regulatory frameworks and policies for 5G. The feedback will assist IMDA in facilitating 5G network rollout by 2020, as well as identifying innovative 5G applications and services for Singapore. Read more.

IIC Singapore Regional Roundup

TRPC is a consulting firm run by Dr Peter Lovelock, an IIC Director and Chapter Head of IIC Singapore. This report contains a digest of legislation, news stories and updates from 14 countries in the Asia Pacific Region.

The New Zealand government has released its new digital inclusion blueprint, which lays out programmes the government will build with other stakeholders to address motivation, access, skills, and trust for citizens to be digitally included. Read more on page 10.

New Era of Competition Regulation

Convergence ushers in a new era of Competition regulation, but are changes needed? So asks Russell Seekins in this latest feature from our 50th anniversary microsite. See our timeline, IIC history and more here.

Digital convergence has been under way virtually since digital technology was invented. But the idea that networks, hardware, data and content would all come together into single entities has reached a new level with the rise of the seemingly ubiquitous ‘platform’. Read the full article.