A workshop on New Generation Networks and their impact on markets and regulation was held last 22-23 September at the Belém Cultural Centre in Lisbon, in the scope of activities carried out by the Euro-Mediterranean Regulators Group (EMERG).
The event was jointly organised by ANACOM and the NATP-3 (New Approaches to Telecommunications Policy) project. It aimed to promote the establishment of independent regulatory authorities and a competitive electronic communications market framework in the group of nine countries from North Africa and the Middle East (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia).
The workshop was one of a thematic series on areas of interest for Euro-Mediterranean regulators. Besides the thematic panels, it included a field visit to the conduits of a mobile communications operator, with special attention to the FTTH OPT network architecture, RCAO procedures and conduit fibre passage, among other aspects.
EMERG envisages more initiatives such as this one before the end of the year, among them the October conference on independent regulators in Beirut and the November universal service seminar in Marrakesh, Morocco. In December, the second planning and benchmark conference is to be held in Rome, while in January 2011 that city will also host the EMERG plenary meeting, given that the Italian electronic communications operator, AGCOM, assumes the group’s presidency in 2011.
