Outcomes of BEREC Plenary meeting 30 September & 1 October 2010

1. Outcomes of BEREC Plenary meeting 30 September & 1 October 2010 John Doherty, Chair Brussels, 8 October 2010

2. Board of Regulators Meeting

3. BEREC Response to Commission Net Neutrality consultation • A definitive evaluation of the effect of the regulatory framework is difficult to make at this stage • Incidents to date remain few and mostly solved without regulatory intervention • At present, premature to consider further intervention with respect to net neutrality at EU level

4. BEREC Response to Commission Net Neutrality consultation • The framework provides powers and tools to protect consumers • “the ability of end-users to access and distribute information or run applications and services of their choice” • New provisions strengthening transparency and minimum quality requirements • Conditions of net neutrality and the openness of the Internet will be monitored over time • Appropriate technical tools to evaluate the deployment of traffic management and the quality of the Internet service • Need for subsequent intervention could then be evaluated

5. Draft Work Programme 2011 • Three themes: Improving harmonisation Emerging challenges Set-up of BEREC and BEREC Office and implementation of reviewed framework

6. Draft Work Programme 2011 - Improving harmonization Consistency of remedies Monitoring conformity of NRA’s with BEREC Common Positions Analysis of remedies proposed by NRAs and Commission concerns about remedies expressed in comments letters • Involvement in Commission investigation of Commission into the cost of non-Europe • Examine Implementation of Recommendations, consider guidance • Guidance on recommendation on termination rates • Implementation of key-remedies – regulatory accounting and non-discrimination International Roaming Business Communication Services Wholesale voice originating to information services

7. Draft Work Programme 2011 - Emerging challenges • Promotion of Broadband • Network Neutrality • Bridging market evolution and the objectives of spectrum management

8. Draft Work Programme 2011 - Implementation • BEREC Office Cross-border and End-user issues Article 28 USD: - numbering issues – accessibility to numbers Art 23 USD - Accessibility to ECS for disabled citizens. Consumer rights (articles 20, 29 and 30 USD): It may also be appropriate to explore current practices and to establish some best practices. article 21 Framework Directive: resolution of cross-border disputes. •  Functional separation - Follow up to 2010 guidance •  Benchmarks •  Cooperation with RSPG and ENISA

9. BEREC Consultation Procedures • BEREC Regulation gives discretion on when to hold public consultations • Aim to set out criteria on how discretion will be exercised • Public consultation during June • Normally 4 weeks for consultations • Different periods if appropriate • Submissions to be published (subject to confidentiality)

10. Draft Guidance on Functional Separation • FS has already been implemented in some MS - voluntary undertakings offered by vertically integrated incumbents. • However, cases should be understood in a context where no specific provisions regarding FS were present in the EU framework. • Draft guidance refers to these national cases as examples on how FS can be implemented in practice with new provisions in place in regulatory framework. • Annex contains a detailed description of these national experiences

11. Draft Guidance on Functional Separation - Article 13a • Part 1 of the document considers the provisions of Article 13a and issues that may arise from its application by NRAs. • Not meant to provide an exhaustive list of criteria whose application would automatically lead an NRA to conclude that FS is required. • Topics addressed: • the meaning of FS (different “degrees” of separation, kinds of equivalence of access to be implemented); • exceptionality of the measure (non-standard remedy, measure of last resort, specific procedures to justify it); • procedures (Article 8(3), prior approval of the Commission, BEREC and COCOM opinions, coordinated analysis of the access markets); • content of the proposal to the Commission (assessment of the need to impose FS and of the impact of imposing FS); • content of the draft measures (identification of the assets of the separated entity, governance arrangements, rules for ensuring compliance with the obligations, monitoring programs, etc.).

12. Draft Guidance on Functional Separation - Article 13b • Part 2 discusses the provisions of Article 13b and the issues that may arise from its application by NRAs. • The section deals with the following topics: • scope of the rule; • the role of the NRA (assessment of the transaction and possible modification of the existing regulation); • timing of the communication and procedure; • interaction with the Commission; • possible re-integration of the formerly separated entities.

13. Draft Report on Business Services • Follow on to ERG work in 2009 • additional analysis to determine if defining a separate relevant market for high-end business users is a feasible option given differences in demand and supply. • Purpose is not to reach definitive conclusions, but to provide guidance which may assist NRAs in their market definition exercises, if they decide that the issue should be considered in further detail . • findings regarding market definition will depend on the specific circumstances of the case and will be determined through applying market definition and analysis principles in a national context.

14. Draft Report on Business Services • Areas considered include retail demand for these customers and potential problems in terms of viable investments to provide communications services application of the chain of substitution From the wholesale prospective, available services for a business-focused operator are described taking into account limitations in economies of scale to make profitable particular investments in infrastructures. In addition, following the BEREC Report on Self Supply, the document deals with the application of the concepts of direct and indirect constrains in the particular case of “high end” customers. the geographical scope of this potential relevant market is considered. • Consultation until 19 November • Anticipated follow on work in 2011 Work Programme

15. MTR benchmark report Report updates the 6 monthly MTR benchmark and sets out the position at 1 July 2010.

16. Average MT tariff per country, July 2010

17. Best practices to facilitate switching Public consultation 4th June to 2nd July 11 responses received – 8 industry stakeholders and 3 consumer stakeholders Report recommends best practices in the following areas: • Minimise unnecessary switching costs/ barriers for individual services and bundles; • Minimise instances of mis-selling/slamming and other unfair practices; • Guarantee that proper information on switching is given to consumers in a clear and easily accessible format; • Enable consumers to transfer more than one service at a time, especially with regard to bundled services; • Support competition in retail markets, particularly ensuring a non-discriminatory process between different suppliers; • Promote cost-efficient switching. Report on consultation and responses published

18. Draft report on ensuring equivalence in access and choice for disabled end-users • Background to and purpose of Article 23a • Current legal framework and measures in place in MS with respect to accessibility • Equivalent access and choice factors for consideration • Services and features available for end-users with disabilities • Proposed approach to achieve equivalent access and choice • Consultation period to 26 November

19. Regulatory Accounting Report • Up-to date factual overview of the regulatory accounting frameworks used in Europe and an assessment of the level of harmonisation achieved by NRAs. • The data for this year’s report is current to June 2010 and is compared, where possible, with data collected each year from 2006. • Report layout has been restructured to develop a deeper analysis that concentrates on the following four key wholesale markets: Line Rental, Unbundled Access, Broadband Access and Leased Lines Terminating Segments.

20. Regulatory Accounting Report • Degree of harmonisation of methodologies remains high. • For Unbundled Access, Broadband Access and Leased Lines Terminating Segment , the Reports finds a clear preference for cost orientation, a trend towards using CCA and a fairly even distribution of LRIC and FDC accounting methods. • Slightly different results observed for the Wholesale Line Rental, where retail minus is the most used price control method, HCA and CCA are used quite in the same proportion and FDC is clearly the preferred choice as accounting methodology.

21. International Roaming • 6th Benchmark Data Report • Covers period January to June 2010 • Main messages same as before Little evidence of competition (apart from wholesale data) Pace of reductions in retail data prices may have slowed

24. Management Committee plenary Administrative Manager • Mr. Ando Rehemaa was formally appointed as the Administrative Manager of the BEREC Office Recruitment of other staff – Head of Administration and Finance; Head of Programme Management Office work programme 2011

25. BEREC Documents approved for publication Public consultations

26. BEREC Office Management Committee documents