• European Commission

European Commission

24 Dec 2020

UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement

The UK and European Union finally agreed on a deal that will define the future relationship.

Briefly, on tariffs, there will be 100% liberalisation – zero tariffs and zero quotas on all goods that comply with the appropriate rules of origin. A broad range of other areas such as investment, competition, state aid, tax transparency and data protection is covered, as well as the ability for the UK’s continued participation in several flagship EU programmes for the period 2021-2027, subject to a financial contribution by the UK to the EU budget. Cooperation on foreign policy, external security or defence are not included.

A summary explainer document is available here

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07 May 2020

Ofcom allows additional time for providers to implement EECC rules

Ofcom has announced that it will allow communications providers at least 12 months to implement changes required when the EECC becomes law in the UK. This may be extended for rules that will have a major impact on systems, such as switching. Ofcom is expected to publish a statement in September once Government confirms its approach to introducing EECC into UK law.

This update follows Ofcom’s consultation in December which closed in March. Ofcom recognises that coronavirus has brought significant challenges to communications providers over recent months and that their focus has been on keeping the nation connected, supporting the vulnerable, the NHS and schools.

The specific implementation deadline for each of the new rules will be published in September.

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BEREC logo
31 Oct 2019

BEREC consultations are now open

BEREC has prepared a consultation document on the work done in BEREC and their 2020 workplan. Several consultations are underway on the following:

  • Guidelines on the Implementation of the Open Internet Regulation

Previously called the BEREC Net Neutrality guidelines and adopted in 2016, an update has been published with an accompanying consultation document. This includes mainly clarifications and follows the views of some stakeholders that the methods mentioned in the paragraphs 69 and 70 of the existing guidelines would not be enough for traffic identification and that domain names should be considered as generic content.

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05 Feb 2019

No Deal Brexit opens the door to roaming rates return

The Government yesterday laid out its proposals for the future of mobile roaming in Europe should the UK leave the EU without a deal in place. As previously set out in the technical notice published in September 2018, should an implementation period be agreed, the current rules governing using a mobile phone in Europe will remain in effect until the end of 2020 and thereafter would depend on the terms agreed in the Future Economic Partnership. (more…)

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22 Oct 2018

Goals for a Gigabit Europe

A WIK conference held last week in Brussels sought to examine the likely impact of the recently agreed EU Electronic Communications Code especially as regards the EU’s goal to be a Gigabit society with greater fibre deployment, in line with the UK’s ambition to see nationwide full fibre roll out by 2033. The Code once fully adopted will have a two year time frame before the new rules will apply across Europe.

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16 Oct 2018

Regulatory barriers continue to hinder European investment – at the FT ETNO Summit

The mood from The Financial Time-ETNO Summit today in Brussels was one of tentative, if not forced, optimism amongst the background feeling of missed opportunities from the recently agreed European Telecoms Code and the repeated sentiment that Europe is risking its potential for investment from the tech sector with its fragmented regulatory approach and low rates of return on investment.

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06 Mar 2017

EU ranks the UK 7th for its digital performance

The European Commission published last week its annual Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), ranking EU countries according to their performance in areas such as connectivity, digital skills, use of the internet by citizens, the digitisation of businesses, and digital public services. The UK moved from 6th place to 7th this year behind Denmark, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium. Although the UK progressed well in terms of coverage and take-up of superfast broadband connections, other countries have moved faster, encouraging their citizens and businesses to use internet services made available to them.

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15 Sep 2016

European Commission unveils plans to create a European Gigabit Society

The European Commission published yesterday its proposals to achieve its vision for a European Gigabit society with ambitious targets from 5G coverage to access for all European households (rural and urban) to internet speeds of 100Mbit/s by 2025. Legislative and policy proposals include a review of the EU regulatory framework for telecoms, an Action Plan on 5G connectivity and new financial instruments as well as additional public funding for a WiFi voucher scheme that will benefit 6000 to 8000 local communities in the EU by 2020.

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28 Apr 2016

Reviewing the Universal Service Directive – challenges in including broadband in its scope

The European Parliament published this week a briefing referencing the difficulties in revising the EU Universal Service Directive, which sets the criteria for a universal service obligation in the telecoms sector. As part of its review of the EU Telecoms Regulatory Framework, the European Commission is considering extending the scope of the Directive to include broadband. However, the briefing makes clear that setting EU-wide conditions for the introduction of a Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband is not without challenges.

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22 Sep 2015

Analysys Mason Report: UK staying ahead of the curve for the next 5 years

Analysys Mason today published a report comparing the UK’s fixed telecoms market to the five major European countries and several other leading digital countries. It found that the UK is currently ahead of its European competitors on measures such as average speed*, superfast broadband coverage and take-up and will soon be outperforming countries such as Japan and the USA.

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