The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) has carried out a public consultation on the data economy.
Consumers, public institutions and companies with expertise and interest in the field of telecoms were able to have their say on a subject that grows with importance every day until 21 November 2018. In response, BEREC plans to publish a report in mid-2019. We will discuss the result of the consultation after the report is published.
What BEREC does
A primary aim of BEREC is to contribute to the development and better functioning of the EU’s internal market for electronic communications networks and services, while ensuring the consistent application of the EU regulatory framework.
Part of this remit is to work with the European Commission on legislative reform in the rapidly developing area of telecoms regulation, where a number of planned reforms are already well advanced, such as the Electronic Communications Code and a new EU e-privacy regulation.
Defining the data economy
According to the preliminary definition proposed by BEREC, the term ‘data economy’ captures the ever-increasing availability of data, together with the related business opportunities and the (potential) social value of the insights it may generate.
But its precise parameters remain unclear. Issues such as what exactly is meant by the term, the nature of the data used, its economic impact and issues inhibiting its development are still being considered.
The aim of the consultation
The consultation also aims to investigate the impact of the data economy on those areas of the telecommunications sector that fall into its regulatory scope.
Most notably, BEREC wants to identify the data-economy issues national regulatory authorities (NRAs) should pay particular attention to.
It also wants to know how the experiences of the NRAs may be used, in co-operation with other agencies, to promote the data economy’s development.
Read more on the consultation on the BEREC website.