Research Areas

The conference themes:

·          Regulatory Practice in Europe

o    Despite a harmonised framework for telecommunications regulation in the EU, implementation varies between countries with respect to speed, efficiency and effectiveness. What looks like a good solution in the regulatory framework or in national laws does not necessarily have to provide good results in practice.

·        Competition and Market Performance in Telecommunications

o    In telecommunication markets competition I supposed to govern market dynamics. It is assumed that this will have beneficial effects on prices, quality of service and innovation. The sustainability of different competitive constellations and their impact on market performance , might be an interesting subject for debate.

·        Improving Telecommunications Infrastructure

o    Providing up-to-date and comprehensive network infrastructures is still the key to market development. The financing, launching and operating of broadband connections, frequency allocation and mobile networks pose challenges to operators, but also to local, regional and national governments.

·        Structural Change in Telecommunications Industries

o    Technological development stimulates the emergence of new players; entries and exits accompany the dynamics of markets, international mergers mark telecommunication firms’ market strategies. This leads to a continuous need for the reassessment of strategies for regulators and for telecommunication firms alike.

·        Internationalisation of Telecommunication Markets: the Enlarged EU and Beyond 

o    The enlargement of the European Union does not only result in larger markets that can be accessed without barriers, it also leads to cross-national joint ventures, new competitive constellations and the emergence of new global players.

·        Broadband: Promises and Perspectives

o    Broadband makes existing applications faster and introduces applications that could not be realised before. Examples of advanced markets might give hints at the developments to be expected; whether employment and growth will be stimulated remains to be discussed.

·        Internet: Regulatory and Strategic Issues

o    Intellectual property rights, taxes, privacy, spam, harmful content, and consumer protection are only a few of the issues that wait for viable solutions. Whether state regulation, self-regulation, independent regulatory bodies, stakeholder initiatives or laissez-faire are the right approaches is an open debate. 

·        Mobile Services: What next?

o    Mobile service have developed with unexpected speed, in terms of supply and in terms of demand. New applications are mushrooming, leaving ample space for speculation and fantasies. The development of services, technologies and markets was full of surprises over the last few years – what will be the future?

·        Information Society Issues: Winners and Losers

o    Information technology will be the basis for most economic, and social developments in the near future. Access to and comprehensive capabilities for handling information will be the key for success. However, not all players will benefit to the same extent. How can conflicts be foreseen, avoided or resolved?

·        Broadcasting: Technology and Content

o    Mass communication benefits from digitisation, the quality of transmission increases, and better technological platforms for effective competition can be provided. However, can technological developments be discussed without analysing what the impact on content might be?