Brussels hosted on 18 October the second meeting of the Ad Hoc Communication Group, led by Jonathan Duggan (ComReg) and Clémentine Beaumont (ARCEP) and attended by ten national regulatory authorities (NRAs), among them ANACOM.
Regarding the outcome of the 2016 Stakeholder Forum, the event was considered a great success. Some of those present (AGCOM, ComReg) noted a clear improvement over previous forums and praised the choice of location and the presence in social media.
The BEREC Office presented a set of statistical data on the event, highlighting actions at Twitter level. A round-table discussion was held on actions carried out by NRAs to promote the event.
Regarding the BEREC debriefing of 30 August, the Office presented a set of statistical data on the event, emphasising the high attendance (four times more than in 2015). Given that many NRAs (including ANACOM) had already responded to the questionnaire sent several days beforehand on communication actions for this and other BEREC events, the Office presented the statistics gathered. As responses must be obtained from at least 15 NRAs (only 10 responded), it was agreed that the questionnaire would be sent out again, including the 2016 Stakeholder Forum, with a 28 October 2016 response deadline.
As for preparation of the BEREC Communication Plan for 2017, the chair presented the topics deemed relevant and their respective order of importance (which merited the agreement of those present):
1. Telecom framework review;
2. Net neutrality implementation;
3. Public consultation on the BEREC midterm strategy (launch P2, adopted P3);
4. Stakeholder Forum;
5. IoT workshop;
6. Common position on mobile network coverage.
The participants were divided into six groups, each with a topic to work on. All the groups presented the work done in session. It was agreed that a document would be delivered by 29 October 2016, containing the actions proposed and expected outcomes.
It was also decided that a final document would be forwarded to the group, so that comments could be submitted until 2 November and the final version presented by 7 November 2016.
Lastly, the discussion on the group’s continuity stands out. There was unanimous interest in its continuation as well as its formalisation as a BEREC working group. The chair is to raise the question at the next meeting of the Contact Network on 17-18 November 2016.
