Serentschy chairs Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) in 2012

At the last plenary meeting of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) in 2011, taking place in Bucharest on 8 and 9 December, Georg Serentschy, Managing Director of RTR’s Telecommunications and Postal Services Division, took over the Chair of BEREC for 2012. In this position he follows Chris Fonteijn, Chairman of the Dutch Independent Post and Telecommunications Authority (OPTA). “The fact that Austria has been nominated to chair this body is a recognition of the accomplishments in the field of electronic communications previously achieved by the Austrian regulatory authority at the national and international levels. It is at the same time a challenge and opportunity to continue to contribute to defining EU policy, as well as to proactively work towards progress in relevant issues and address issues of future relevance,” the head of the Austrian telecommunications regulatory authority, Mr. Serentschy, noted.

BEREC Work Programme 2012: network neutrality, consumer protection and roaming

Following six months of intensive preparations on the part of RTR, the BEREC Work Programme for 2012 was presented and publicly discussed as early as in October 2011. During the consultation and public hearing, taking place in Brussels, industry stakeholders provided additional suggestions and input, which were subsequently implemented in the 2012 Work Programme as well. The Work Programme was now adopted at last week’s plenary meeting. The main focuses of the 2012 Work Programme include the issues of network neutrality, consumer protection, universal services and the decision to play an attentive role and cooperate in the EU notification procedure for regulatory decisions. Other work areas include regulation of access to next generation networks (NGN/NGA) as well as measures to promote and support broadband development, to mention just a few. Additionally, a strategy paper was adopted in Bucharest, defining the strategic goals of BEREC in the medium term. The paper will be discussed with stakeholders as part of a public consultation beginning this week, before finally adopting the strategy at the first plenary meeting next year in Vienna.
The 2012 BEREC Work Programme as well as the results of the strategy consultation will soon be available at berec.europa.eu/whatsnew/index_en.htm.