On 6 October 2010, ICP-ANACOM hosted its fourth international conference in Lisbon, on the theme "Net Neutrality - network regulation and content regulation", with 243 participants.
The goal of this conference was to promote debate on the various issues related to network neutrality, a concept linked both to the behaviour of network operators in terms of the various types of protocols, applications and content, and to access by Internet users to services and applications.
From a regulatory, market and consumer perspective, the conference addressed some of the challenges facing regulators, especially with regard to traffic management and prioritization of services, information transparency and consumer protection, regulatory intervention on an ex-post and ex-ante basis, the role of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) and the role of the EC.
The work focused on three main themes: "New regulatory responses"; "Competition issues"; "Network management and access to content and applications". The conference was attended by speakers of recognized merit, representing a wide range of relevant institutions.
Meanwhile, in partnership with the IEEE Portugal Section, ICP-ANACOM organized the Fourth Congress of the Portuguese Committee of URSI, whose work is the responsibility of this Authority, addressing the theme of "Personal radio communication: short range networks and RFID". This Congress, which took place in Lisbon in September, was preceded by a call for papers, directed at academia, seeking the submission of works in areas related to the event's theme. In parallel, a technical exhibition was held featuring four exhibitors.
The goals of the Portuguese Committee of URSI - International Union of Radio Science are to stimulate and co-ordinate studies, on a national basis, in the scientific fields of radioelectricity, telecommunications, and electronics. ICP-ANACOM is responsible for organizing these works.
During the Congress, awards were made of the Portuguese Committee of URSI career prize and URSI Portugal research prize, constituted in 2009.
The career prize, which honours an individual who has contributed to the advance of radio science in Portugal, was awarded to Joaquim Patrício, 89 years, who is an engineer by training and began working in radio in 1948, with a long and dedicated career.
The research prize was awarded to the work UHF RFID Reader Antennas for Self-confined Tag Detection, authored by Carla Medeiros, Instituto de Telecomunicações (Telecommunications Institute), selected from among four candidates. This award, worth five thousand euros, was first awarded in 2010, and aims to stimulate creativity and rigor in scientific research work in Portugal.
Throughout 2010 various workshops and seminars were held, organized and promoted by this Authority, including:
- ENISA-ANACOM Workshop on "Risk and Innovation" on 21 and 22 January, promoted in association with the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA).With debate focused on information security, this workshop provided an opportunity to underline the importance of security systems as a key innovation factor. This event was attended by 145 participants;
- Workshop on "R&TTE regime in Portugal - The role of supervisory bodies and of market players", held on 25 November and targeting agents responsible for putting radio equipment and telecommunications terminal equipment into service; the workshop provided opportunity for debate and clarification of the fundamental aspects of the regime and had 60 participants;
- Workshop for ITED-ITUR trainers on 19 February, held with the aim of providing training for training providers on the ITED Manual (2nd edition) and ITUR (1st edition), published in 2010. This event was attended by 65 participants;
- Seminar series on "The new ITED-ITUR regime: legal framework and technical manuals", held on 30 June in Coimbra, and on 6 July in Évora. This series, aimed at municipalities and ITED technicians, promoted debate and provided clarification of issues related to the legal regime governing ITED - Infra-estruturas de Telecomunicações em Edifícios (Telecommunications Infrastructure in Buildings) and ITUR - Infra-estruturas de Telecomunicações em Loteamentos, Urbanizações e Conjuntos de Edifícios (Telecommunications Infrastructure in Housing Developments, Urban Settlements and Concentrations of Buildings), as well as the SIC - sistema de informação centralizado (centralized information system) and the deployment of digital terrestrial television (DTT).
The "ANACOM seminars" initiative also continued in 2010, aiming to promote knowledge, discussion and debate around several themes of importance to the communications sector, through the presentation and discussion of academic and other papers or projects by national and foreign authors. Six workshops were organized on the following themes: (i) Considerations in making electronic communications accessible to all (11 February); (ii) Spectrum management: recent developments and challenges (12 March); (iii) Mobile Broadband - A substitute for fixed? (15 April); (iv) Regulating next generation access networks (21 May); (v) Dematerialization Public Administration procedures (24 June); and (vi) Postal regulation & strategy under FMO and electronic competition (19 October).
Additionally, in March 2010, ICP-ANACOM held a frequencies auction (broadband wireless access (BWA)), and organized thirteen technical meetings in the context of working groups and international organizations in which this Authority is a participant as part of its remit to provide representation of the communications sector, in particular, the Electronic Communications Committee (ECC) and European Committee for Postal Regulation (CERP).
ICP-ANACOM also took part in "Portugal Tecnológico 2010" (Technological Portugal), the third edition of the technology and innovation show, held on the theme "Portugal Tecnológico, leading the future". ICP-ANACOM took a presence on the Portugal Vivo stand of the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Communications, as part of module dedicated to Information and Communication Technologies, with two spaces:
- one presenting the ''Virtual Assistant'' tool on ICP-ANACOM's website (described above);
- the other, a demonstration zone, identified as ''anacom.pt Eye-tracking Laboratory".
At the conference associated with this event, ICP-ANACOM held a presentation on ''Accessibility and usability of institutional websites - case study www.anacom.pthttps://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=2958'', given by Luís Manuel Carriço, Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics of Universidade de Lisboa, Founder of boomUX and expert in accessibility and usability.
