Last Friday I attended a Workshop on the Future of European Communications Policy (check webpage in the future for slides) at Manchester Metropolitan University. Among the participants were Alex Blower (Head of Policy Development at Ofcom) and David Levy (Controller, Public Policy at the BBC), as well as professors Peter Humphreys and Tom Gibbons. Discussions were interesting, varied and lively (despite most of us being academics!).

As Russ would say, here are some �nuggets�:

• A great deal of attention was given to Ofcom and its first year�s performance. Ofcom was presented as a regulator that has a �strategic direction� (as opposed to its predecessor Oftel, a world�s first class but strategy-lacking regulator). Where to, is still a mystery.
• After listening to the wonders of three sectoral strategic reviews (on telecommunications, spectrum and public service broadcasting), all of us (including Mr. Blower) were left wondering where is the much hyped �convergent� regulator.
• The Communications Act and the European Regulatory Framework are meant to encourage a move from regulation to competition. On this spirit, Ofcom has been given concurrent powers with the OFT, and it intends to use them �promptly and effectively�. Not once yet. In the meantime, the number of regulations, people whose job is to regulate and companies subject to regulation in one form or another keeps augmenting (in 1984 BT�s licence had about 30-33 conditions, now it has got 250). What does �de-regulation� means remains another mystery.
• Interesting debates on universal service. European regulation still limits its scope to voice related services. Content is not considered, broadband not compulsory and nobody knows what �functional� Internet access really means.
• A final thought: Ofcom has put its hands on two �Bees� already (BT and the BBC). Is it the turn of BSkyB now?

M�nica Ari�o