GSMA general statement with regards to BEREC Consultation on Draft BEREC Strategy (BoR (17) 109) 5 July 2017

Transcription

1 BoR PC02 (17) 07 GSMA general statement with regards to BEREC Consultation on Draft BEREC Strategy (BoR (17) 109) 5 July 2017 About the GSMA The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting nearly 800 operators with almost 300 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors. The GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as Mobile World Congress, Mobile World Congress Shanghai, Mobile World Congress Americas and the Mobile 360 Series conferences. For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at Follow the GSMA on Policy Contact: Tomas Jakimavicius Policy Director, Europe tjakimavicius@gsma.com

2 Introduction The GSMA welcomes the opportunity to submit its high-level response to consultation on the draft BEREC Strategy Please note that the GSMA has already provided its views on the draft BEREC Medium-Term Strategy for on 5 April Please also note that the answers provided to the questions below might be further elaborated in future GSMA responses to the forthcoming BEREC annual work programmes. The GSMA agrees that there is a necessity to reflect the fast changing technological and market developments expected for the period of However, as a matter of principle, the GSMA would like to emphasize that while we support BEREC in further improving its working methods, for it to remain efficient we strongly encourage BEREC to remain within the scope of its current competence. The GSMA would like comment on the five BEREC strategic priorities for , specifically emphasizing on the following: Strategic Priority 1: Responding to connectivity challenges and to new conditions for access to high-capacity networks Promoting the take-up of very high capacity networks and making them available to all Union citizens and businesses is becoming an increasingly important objective to all the stakeholders, including BEREC. The GSMA therefore welcomes the identification of investments in new and enhanced infrastructure and services as a strategic priority. Accordingly, the need to forster the investments required to achieve this objective should be recognized.. The GSMA would like to emphasize that mobile markets are fiercely competitive, and that mobile operators have achieved sharing or co-investment agreements and will continue to do so. Therefore, sharing or co-investment schemes should remain a possibility for mobile operators, based on a voluntary decision, as long as competition law principles are respected, and positive outcome is achieved (i.e. technical and economic efficiencies, pro-competitive impacts, consumer welfare, etc.). Furthermore, telecom markets including mobile markets are typically characterised by oligopoly structures and there should not be a presumption that oligopolistic structures are welfare reducing and require ex-ante regulation. Competitive oligopolies can support positive economic welfare outcomes and have been beneficial to customers across Europe over the past 15 years. Thus, when BEREC intends to continue to identify market competition issues, in the context of very high capacity networks, it should at least take into account the outcome of the proposed European Electronics Communications Code, as well as the competition law principles. Adding concepts not appropriate for sector specific regulation such as Unilateral Market Power or other forms of oligopoly regulation leading to over-regulation is considered by investors as a main threat to investment and therefore counterproductive. It would just create major uncertainty and major consistency problems. 1 GSMA response to the consultation on the draft BEREC Medium- Term Strategy for : 2

3 Strategic Priority 2: Monitoring potential bottlenecks in the distribution of digital services The GSMA agrees with BEREC that it is important to analyse/evaluate how digital value chain is evolving and how potential bottlenecks, arising due to the changing interaction between service and network providers, could be addressed. After a period of volatility during the first 15 or 20 years, the internet is now maturing into a more stable state, with a mix of established leaders and challengers. Those leaders are acting in similar ways to more traditional companies, buying up innovative companies that can enhance their own growth rates, building scale through horizontal integration, and driving efficiencies through vertical integration. The major internet companies continue to expand their footprint across the value chain. It is forecasted that the online services segment of the value chain will continue to be the largest and experience the fastest growth, accounting for more than 50 per cent of internet value chain revenues by In the context of the above, the GSMA s report on the Internet Value Chain 2 identifies a number of general findings that have implications for players concerned with the value chain, from corporate executives to policymakers. Strategic Priority 3: Enabling 5G and promoting innovation in network technologies 5G will deliver a step-change in services by taking advantage of capabilities such as ultra-low latency connections and average speeds that are up to 50 times faster than the fastest 4G LTE deployments available in the current market. The technological advantages of 5G will serve as a catalyst for the introduction of innovative devices and data services but will also simply provide capacity relief for heavily loaded networks. 5G will not only enable faster connections, but will provide improved bandwidth too. Moreover, the improved technology will cover the IoT and enable a wide range of new consumer and enterprise experiences, including both data intensive and energy efficient applications. 5G will develop around a wide ecosystem and verticals, just to name a few: ehealth, transport, energy will benefit of its characteristics. The 5G new capabilities will allow collaborations between Operators and Verticals to provide better and revolutionary services and are based on the following: 5G will allow operators to define different logical networks over the same physical network, a.k.a. network slices. Different types of slice can be considered to answer various needs, for instance: slice for enhanced broadband (embb), for massive communications (mmtc), for ultra reliable and low latency communications (urllc); Network slices with predictable QoS is the feature most demanded by Verticals to innovate in services; Prioritization of traffic, especially in the air interface, seems to be one of the technical functionalities that may be used alongside Network Virtualization Function (NFV) and Software Define Network (SDN) to provide Network Slices with predictable QoS ; 2 The Internet Value Chain: A study on the economics of the internet (May 2016): 3

4 The GSMA supports BEREC s view that it is important to follow the network technologies and developments that have the potential to directly change the way services are used and delivered. We also agree with BEREC that new technologies, such as SDN or NFV are still at their formative stage, hence we believe that there is no justification to include such new technologies or new innovative interfaces/services in the scope of the sector specific regulation. To achieve a fit for purpose and future proof regulatory framework that incentivizes longterm investments in 5G technology, on a strategic level we emphasize the importance of the following key factors: Mobile plays a pivotal role in Europe's economy and society, both as an industry in its own right and as an enabling platform for an increasing range of sectors and services Partnership between public and private sectors is essential for European 5G leadership Mobile is a capital-intensive industry that requires both, continuous investment in new technology and predictable future-proof regulatory framework conditions The mobile industry stands ready to make the necessary investments and to continue driving innovation. In partnership with governments, legislators and regulators we can leverage the power of 5G to deliver growth and jobs, achieve a more inclusive society with better public services. In this context, the role of regulators in acknowledging the massive investments needs is essential to ensure regulatory certainty and predictability. Strategic priority 4: Fostering a consistent approach of the net neutrality principles The GSMA supports BEREC s ambition to support national regulators in applying the Open Internet Regulation in a consistent way throughout Europe. This is particularly important, as ensuring that NRAs are consistently compliant with the EU Regulation on Open Internet 2015/2120 will prevent from the threats to create a significant regulatory uncertainty, which may have a detrimental effect on investment, innovation and further development of the EU Digital Single Market. It is also important to ensure that implementation of Open Internet rules will take into account the particularities of 5G networks. Strategic priority 5: Exploring new ways to boost consumer empowerment Most of the areas in the context of consumer empowerment are relevant beyond the telecoms sector and should not be considered in an isolated way, but in the broader context as perceived by consumers. In general, consumer protection is one of the most important issues for the end-user experience. The use of digital applications, of which the most used are provided by OTTs, will continue to rapidly grow in the future. Therefore, the GSMA has continuously advocated the importance of consumer protection in terms of transparent information and terms of conditions of the used application independently of the provider of the application on a level playing field basis. However, it should in this regard be considered balancing the amount of information relayed to customers against avoiding information overload. 4

5 Data protection, privacy and network security are other important aspects that could impact on the growth and innovation of applications towards a digital society and a level playing field among all the players is fundamental. BEREC Working Methods Having clear guidelines on the implementation of rules is beneficial as it reduces regulatory uncertainty and the risk of incurring fines. In our view, BEREC should aim for a better coordination/harmonisation between NRAs. This should be continuously improved. BEREC should also continuously improve its stakeholder engagement. The GSMA would like to acknowledge BEREC s efforts to take into account Stakeholders views via public consultations. However, we would like to encourage BEREC not to overlook it because of sometimes too short consultation response timings, which should be justified at all times. 5