This seminar examined the role of competition in delivering consumer benefits, and looked at the case for further intervention to protect the consumer interest.  It included a discussion of the role of consumer information in making markets work better, and the effect of switching costs on the potential for competition.

Philip Cullum: The consumer agenda in regulation

Peter Lukacs: The value of consumer policy in regulation

Claudio Pollack: Consumer policy and engagement

Catherine Waddams: What motivates switching?

A workshop was held to discuss the findings of Robin Foster's report for the DCMS, published in January 2007.

A summary of the workshop discussions is available in: Future Broadcasting Regulation workshop summary.

Robin Foster's presentation of the report is also available: Future Broadcasting Regulation:report recap

Modern broadband access networks can bring benefits to nations, citizens and consumers, but investment costs may be high and profits uncertain.  This GCC event will examine how important those benefits might be, how likely they are to be realised, and the policy and regulatory challenges which must be addressed. What is a socially optimal level of investment in broadband access? What sort of competitive environment will best ensure the desired outcome? Will broadband access involve the emergence of new enduring bottlenecks – if so, how should they be regulated – what overarching principles should guide the key policy and regulatory decisions?  Clive Ansell of BT will be the keynote speaker, and we will have a range of contributions to the debate from the UK and overseas, including from Ofcom, the BSG, and other European regulators.

Clive Ansell, Group Strategy Director, BT

Hiroya Izumi, Director, International Affairs Division, MIC Japan

As we move away from a world of spectrum scarcity to one in which abundant bandwidth allows many content providers to bloom, what will the main focus of regulation need to be?  Will the emphasis be on economic rather than content regulation?  Will broadband access present the same enduring bottleneck problems as the old copper networks, and – if so - what does that mean for regulation?  What issues should be of interest to content providers and broadcasters? How should public interest content regulation adapt to this new world and, indeed, is it still needed? To ensure a democratic and pluralistic expression of views and opinions across the new broadband networks, do we need to do any more than secure an effectively competitive market?

Martin Cave, Director of Warwick Centre for Management under Regulation

Eli Noam, Director of Columbia Institute for Tele-Information

Leonard Waverman,Professor & Chair of Economics and Director Global Communications Consortium, London Business School

Robin Foster (Presentation) (Paper),Associate Director Global Communications Consortium, London Business School

David Levy, Director Public Policy, BBC

As regulators seek less intrusive ways of intervention, models of self and co-regulation have been adopted in different circumstances in different countries around the world. In Australia, co-regulation is a key part of the regulatory framework. In Europe, it is being strongly promoted as part of any extension of content regulation into new media.  In the UK, ICSTIS, ATVOD and others have shown how new models might work., and Ofcom has devolved responsibility for broadcast advertising regulation to the ASA.  What are the arguments for and against these approaches, and on what criteria should they be assessed?.  Which models work best, and how can the pitfalls be avoided?  This seminar will use theory and case studies to address these and a range of other critical questions.

Kip Meek, Senior Partner Ofcom: Self & Co-Regulation in the UK Communications Sector: Progress & Future Potential

Lyn Maddock, Deputy Chair, Australian Communications and Media Authority: The Australian Experience so far

Elizabeth Filkin, Chair ATVOD

George Kidd, Director, ICSTIS

Hamish MacLeod, Chair, Mobile Broadband Group

Simon Milner, Equality of Access Office, BT

Peter Lunt, Brunel University

If a key to future broadband competition is wireless, can the policy frameworks (especially for spectrum) now in place deliver the right environment to facilitate its development, in a way which is fair to all players?  What is the right balance between market mechanisms and regulatory planning? How should transitional issues be addressed if a change is necessary?

Leonard Waverman,Global Communications Consortium: Introduction

William Webb, Head of Research & Development, Ofcom: The Future of Wireless - Emerging Trends

Tim Hewitt, BT Head of Radio Spectrum Policy: Technology and Service Developments - Cab we Find the Spectrum?

Tommaso Valletti, Fellow, Imperial College: Fixed/Mobile Convergence?

Scott Wallsten, Senior Fellow, AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies: Emerging Competition and Implications for Regulation

Phillipa Marks, Director, Indepen: Markets and Public Policy in Spectrum Planning

Jim Cooney, Chairman, TCI: Harmonisation - an EU/Global Perspective

Richard Feasey, Vodafone: Spectrum Reform - the International Dimension

Philip Rutnam, Partner, Spectrum Policy Group, Ofcom:  A Discussion of Key Spectrum Issues, and How Ofcom is thinking about some of the Challenges Ahead

Hank Intven, member of the Canadian Telecoms Policy Review Panel: Deregulation to Respond to a more Competitive Environment - the Findings of the TPRP - and likely next Steps in Canada

M.H.Au, OFTA: Competition in Broadband Access - How Deregulation has been Possible in Hong Kong

Nigel Attenborough, National Economic Research Associates: Deregulation in European Broadband Markets - Potential Economic Impact 

Brian Williamson, Indepen Consultants: The ICT Sector and Productivity in Europe - the Challenges Ahead

Robert Shaw, International Telecommunication Union: What Rules for IP-Enabled NGN's

Ed Richards, Ofcom: Investment and Innovation - Ofcom's Role in Creating the Right Environment for Next Generation Network Investment

Malcolm Taylor, Broadband Stakeholder Group: Investment and Regulation - Stakeholders' Views

Alan Lazarus, BT: Stakeholders' Views

Vianney Hennes, France Telecom: Investment and Regulation - Stakeholders' Views

Agenda: in the US, the emergence of (real or potential) inter-modal competition (between cable cos, telcos, satellite and new wireless platforms) has been seen as an opportunity to reduce telecoms regulation, especially for new broadband networks.  At the same time there is increasing concern about the potential for network operators to be able to discriminate unfairly between service providers, potentially harming consumer choice  (the so-called net neutrality debate).  This seminar, which includes speakers with first hand knowledge of the US environment, and these who have been thinking about the issues from a European perspective, will discuss the US approach and its implications for the way in which we think about similar issues in the UK and the rest of Europe.

Robert Crandall, the Brookings Institution: The Emergence of Inter-Modal Competition, & its Implications for Regulation in the US

Dorothy Attwood, AT&T: The US Competitive Framework, & the Net Neutrality Debate - from an Operator's Perspective

John Haring, Strategic Policy Research: Has Europe Got Anything to Learn from the US? - How the US Got to Where It Is & the Big Issues Going Forward

Dimitri Ypsilanti, OECD: Net Neutrality - the Issues & Debate from the OECD Perspective

Dougal Scott, Ofcom: Net Neutrality in the UK - a Regulator's Perspective

Antonio Bavasso, UCL/Allen & Overy: Network Access & Other Bottlenecks - an Antitrust Law Perspective